JK 


UC-NRLF 


1916 


U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR 

OFFICE  OF  THE  SECRETARY 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE 
FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION 


HELD  AT 


WASHINGTON,  D.  C,  JULY  10-15,  1916 

UNDER  THE  AUSPICES  OF  THE 
BUREAU  OF  NATURALIZATION 
U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR 


RAYMOND  F.  CRIST 

DEPDTY  COMMISSIONER  OF  NATURALIZATION 
PRESIDING 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 
1917 


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TJ.  S.  DEPARTMENT  or  LABOR, 
BUREAU  OF  NATURALIZATION, 

Washington,  November  3,  1916. 
The  ASSISTANT  SECRETARY: 

There  is  transmitted  herewith  the  proceedings  of  the  Citizenship 
Convention  which  was  held  in  the  city  of  Washington  during  the 
week  of  July  10,  1916,  under  the  authority  of  the  department.  It  is 
recommended  that  these  proceedings  be  printed  for  distribution  to 
the  public-school  authorities  throughout  the  country  and  others 
interested  in  the  educational  work  of  this  bureau  in  cooperation  with 
the  public  schools. 

The  discussions  of  the  subject  matter  for  the  textbook,  which  were 
held  on  Wednesday,  July  12,  are  not  shown  in  detail,  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  information  gathered  in  connection  therewith  being 
necessarily  delayed  by.  reason  of  the  work  incidental  to  the  prepa- 
ration of  the  annual  report,  estimates,  and  other  special  matters,  but 
as  this  textbook  would  properly  appear  as  a  part  of  the  work  of 
this  convention,  it  is  recommended  that  as  soon  as  the  material  may 
be  compiled  in  suitable  form  it  be  printed  as  an  appendix  to  these 
proceedings. 

RICHD.  K.  CAMPBELL, 
Commissioner  of  Naturalization. 

Approved. 

Louis  F.  POST, 

Assistant  Secretary. 


3676,*  * 


PROGRAM. 


MONDAY,  JULY   10. 

Address,  "  Welcome  to  the  city  " — Hon.  Ol'urer  P.  Newman,  Commissioner  of  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia. 

"Americanism  " — Hon.  Louis  F.  Post,  Assistant  Secretary  of  Labor. 

Address  of  welcome — Ernest  L.  Thurston,  superintendent  of  schools,  Washington,  D.  C. 

"  Evening  schools  for  foreigners  in  the  Northwest  " — Robert  S.  Coleman,  chief  natu- 
ralization examiner,  St.  Paul,  Minn. 

"The  public  schools  in  the  Philippines  and  Hawaii"  (illustrated) — Hon.  Clarence  B. 
Miller,  Representative  in  Congress. 

TUESDAY,  JULY  11. 

Address — Hon.  Josephus  Daniels,  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 

"  The  schools  of  the  United  States  Army  " — Lieut.  E.  Z.  Steever,  United  States  Army. 

Address — Samuel  Gompers,  president  of  American  Federation  of  Labor. 

"  Americanizing  a  community  "  (illustrated) — J.  Henri  Wagner,  chief  clerk  Bureau 
of  Naturalization. 

"  Rural  night  schools  for  aliens  in  northern  Minnesota  " — E.  A.  Freeman,  district 
superintendent  of  schools,  Grand  Rapids,  Minn. 

"  Preparation  for  American  citizenship  and  life " — Hon.  Philander  P.  Claxton,  Com- 
missioner United  States  Bureau  of  Education. 

WEDNESDAY,  JULY  12. 

"  Methods  of  reaching  and  teaching  illiterates  " — Mrs.  Cora  Wilson  Stewart,  president 
of  Kentucky  Illiteracy  Commission,  Frankfort,  Ky. 

"  Outdoor  school  work  in  Taconia,  Wash."  (illustrated)  —  Hon.  Albert  Johnson.  Rep- 
resentative in  Congress. 

Discussion  of  textbooks  by  the  convention. 

"An  American  in  the  making"    (illustrated). 

THURSDAY,  JULY  13. 

Selection — The  Marine  Band. 

"  Civic  preparedness  and  Americanization  " — J.  M.  Berkey,  director  of  special  schools 
and  extension  work,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

"  Some  of  the  problems  of  getting  aliens  into  the  night  schools  " — W.  M.  Ragsdale, 
chief  naturalization  examiner,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

Address — The  President  of  the  United  States. 

Selection — The  Marine  Band. 

"The  immigrant  in  America"    (illustrated). 

"  What  Portland,  Oreg.,  is  doing  to  Americanize  foreigners " — L.  R.  Alderman, 
superintendent  of  schools,  Portland,  Oreg. 

Address — Hon.  William  B.  Wilson,  Secretary  of  Labor. 

FRIDAY,  JULY  14. 

Address — Hon.  Frederick  L.  Siddons,  associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
District  of  Columbia. 

"  The  man  he  might  have  been  "  (illustrated). 

"  What  Boston  is  doing  in  immigrant  education  "— M.  J.  Downey,  assistant  director, 
evening  and  continuation  schools,  Boston,  Mass. 

6 


6  PROGRAM. 

"  The  business  man's  point  of  view  " — I.  Walton  Schmidt,  industrial  welfare  depart- 
ment, board  of  commerce,  Detroit,  Mich. 

"  The  industrial  plan  of  education  in  Wisconsin  " — Andrew  H.  Melville,  member  State 
conference  board  on  industrial  education,  and  chief  of  the  bureau  of  civic,  commercial, 
and  community  development,  University  of  Wisconsin  extension  division. 

"A  resume  "—Raymond  P.  Crist,  Deputy  Commissioner  of  Naturalization. 

SATURDAY,  JULY  15. 

Trip  to  Mount  Vernon. 

NOTB.— -The  afternoons  will  be  devoted  to  committee  meetings,  sightseeing  trips,  etc. 


PROCEEDINGS. 


MONDAY,  JULY  10. 

OPENING   ADDRESS   OF   RAYMOND   F.   CRIST,   DEPUTY   COMMIS- 
SIONER OF  NATURALIZATION. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  The  hour  has  arrived  for  calling  to  order 
the  Citizenship  Convention  which  was  authorized  by  the  Depart- 
ment of  Labor  last  year,  and  toward  which  we  have  been  indirectly 
and  directly  working  during  that  time. 

The  purpose  of  this  series  of  meetings  is  twofold:  First,  to  con- 
sider what  has  been  done  in  the  past  to  profit  by  the  experiences  of 
the  past,  and,  second,  to  bring  out  a  textbook  for  the  use  of  the  can- 
didate for  citizenship  who  attends  the  public  school.  The  work  which 
the  public  schools  of  this  country  have  been  accomplishing  during 
the  last  year  in  cooperation  with  the  Bureau  of  Naturalization  has 
been  one  of  preparation  for  citizenship  responsibilities  of  the  resident 
alien  body  and  particularly  those  who  are  candidates  for  citizenship 
by  naturalization.  The  call  to  this  work  has  been  loyally  responded 
to  by  the  public  schools  of  the  entire  country,  favorable  responses 
having  been  received  from  every  State  in  the  Union.  In  44  States 
classes  for  adult  foreigners  have  been  organized  for  teaching  citi- 
zenship in  the  public  schools,  and  in  650  cities  and  towns  this  work 
has  been  in  progress.  Over  200,000  names  of  foreigners,  including 
the  wives  of  the  candidates  for  citizenship,  have  been  issued  by  the 
Bureau  of  Naturalization  to  the  public  schools  in  these  cities  and 
towns,  and  preparations  are  going  forward  for  the  organization  of  a 
larger  number  of  classes  in  about  100  more  cities  and  towns,  so  that 
in  every  State  in  the  Union,  and  probably  in  Alaska  and  Hawaii,  the 
public  schools  will  have  allied  themselves  with  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment, through  the  Department  of  Labor,  with  the  close  of  the  next 
scholastic  year  in  what  promises  to  be  one  of  the  most  forward 
movements  of  the  time  in  preparedness,  to  use  a  popular  expres- 
sion, in  the  fundamental  of  preparedness — preparedness  in  citizen- 
ship. 

The  reaction  which  is  to  be  expected  from  this  movement  to  inform 
the  candidate  for  citizenship  by  naturalization  of  his  new  responsi- 

7 


8  PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

bilities  will  undoubtedly  be  greater  upon  the  native-born  citizens 
than  upon  the  foreign-born,  if  the  question  of  numbers  alone  is  to 
determine  the  conclusion. 

This  morning  we  represent  a  small,  a  very  small,  gathering  and 
reflection  of  this  great  national  movement,  but  it  has  been  said  that 
where  there  are  a  small  number  gathered  together  consecrated  to  a 
cause  their  potentiality  will  be  great,  and  I  am  sure,  with  the  re- 
sults which  we  expect  to  accomplish  from  this  series  of  meetings,  the 
wave  of  force  will  be  renewed  with  the  coming  school  year,  and 
instead  of  having  experiments,  tried  and  proved  successful  in  some 
parts  of  the  country  and  failing  to  be  so  successful  in  others,  we 
will  solidify  and  accomplish  definite  and  complete  results. 

It  is  my  pleasure  this  morning  first  to  introduce  to  you,  for  an 
address  of  welcome,  Commissioner  Oliver  P.  Newman,  one  of  the 
three  Commissioners  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 

ADDRESS  OF  COMMISSIONER  NEWMAN. 

Mr.  SECRETARY,  LADIES,  AND  GENTLEMEN:  You  behold  in  me  the 
necessary  evil  of  every  convention.  I  am  the  official  key  giver  of  the 
city;  and  every  convention  which  comes  here  has  to  stop  in  the 
progress  of  its  legitimate  purpose  for  a  few  moments  on  the  first 
morning  and  receive  that  key,  so  that  you  are  now  undergoing  that 
process.  I  want  to  say  that  to  this  particular  convention  I  am  par- 
ticularly glad  to  turn  over  the  key  of  the  city.  I  have  a  very  great 
personal  and  official  admiration  for  the  two  elements  which  are 
Drought  together  in  this  conference ;  one,  the  Department  of  Labor  of 
the  Government,  and  the  other,  the  public-school  teacher.  I  would 
like  to  be  able  to  say  that  I  was  a  school-teacher,  for  I  know  that  men 
in  public  office  always  find  that  such  a  statement  meets  with  a  hearty 
response  from  any  audience.  The  most  I  can  say  is  that  I  am  mor- 
ganatically  affiliated  with  your  profession — I  married  a  school- 
teacher. 

I  think  it  is  particularly  appropriate  that  this  conference  be  held 
in  the  National  Capital  and  that  the  efforts  which  are  to  result  from 
the  undertaking  which  has  been  launched  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Bureau  of  Naturalization  should  radiate  from  the  center  of  govern- 
ment, the  seat  of  government.  I  think  that  this  movement  probably 
illustrates  as  accurately  as  anything  which  has  been  done  in  recent 
years  the  new  view,  the  new  interpretation  of  the  purposes  of  gov- 
ernment. I  have  seen  it  in  all  of  the  departments  in  the  last  few 
years,  particularly  here  in  Washington.  But  this  is  especially  em- 
phatic, for  it  seems  to  me  that  this  movement  is  a  striking  case  of 
the  utilization  of  the  machinery  of  the  Government  for  the  benefit 
of  society,  or  rather  the  utilization  by  society  of  its  own  machinery 
for  its  own  benefit,  and  being  here  for  the  purpose  of  accomplishing 
a  thing  of  that  kind  I  am  very  glad  to  welcome  you,  to  extend  to 
you  in  behalf  of  the  government  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  which, 
as  you  probably  know,  is  far  from  a  democratic  institution,  the  key 
to  the  city. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION.  9 

We  have  a  curious  anomaly  here  at  the  seat  of  government;  the 
greatest  Nation  which  most  nearly  approaches  democracy  being  lo- 
cated in  an  absolute  monarchy.  That  is  a  most  peculiar  situation 
which  will  be  remedied  as  time  passes,  as  conditions  develop  which 
call  for  the  application  of  remedies.  But  nevertheless  you  are  wel- 
come. If  the  people  of  Washington  could  speak  as  they  do  in  other 
places,  and  I  could  therefore  actually  be  their  spokesman  as  well  as 
nominally  be  their  spokesman,  I  am  sure  they  would  want  me  to  wish 
to  you  a  cordial  welcome  and  success  in  the  enterprise  you  have 
undertaken. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  We  have  all  known  that,  as  American  citizens, 
we  are  always  welcome  to  the  National  Capital,  but  that  welcome 
would  not  have  been  complete  without  a  formal  expression  of  it  from 
Commissioner  Newman.  In  order  to  make  assurances  doubly  sure, 
especially  with  regard  to  a  recognition  of  the  public  schools,  which 
are  doing  the  great  work  in  this  enterprise,  we  are  privileged  also  in 
having  an  address  of  welcome  from  Superintendent  Thurston,  of  the 
public  schools  of  Washington. 

ADDRESS  OF  SUPERINTENDENT  THURSTON. 

MEMBERS  or  THIS  CONVENTION  :  I  feel  it  a  very  special  privilege 
to  be  permitted  to  have  a  moment  in  which  to  extend  to  you  in  behalf 
of  the  organization  which  I  represent  a  most  cordial  and  sincere 
welcome  to  this  city,  to  this  institution,  to  this  building.  I  feel  that 
the  school  system  of  Washington  is  always  most  glad  to  welcome 
within  its  walls  the  people  who  are  engaged  in  educational  work,  but 
it  is  especially  glad  as  an  organization  to  welcome  you,  because  we 
who  are  in  educational  work  here  feel  that  you  are  dealing  with  one 
of  the  few  problems  of  vital  importance  to  the  Nation  as  a  whole  as 
well  as  to  our  community  with  it,  and  we  feel  that  we  could  meet  in 
no  better  place  than  the  seat  of  the  National  Government.  I  feel  that 
in  welcoming  you  to  Washington,  for  my  part,  I  am  really  welcoming 
you  to  your  own.  There  is  not  one  not  having  an  interest  in  the  Capi- 
tal City.  Each  one  has  a  share  in  its  control,  in  its  support,  and 
there  is  no  one  who  does  not  look  forward  with  a  personal  attitude 
toward  Washington  as  to  no  other  city  in  the  country.  I  feel  then 
that  you  are  simply  coming  into  your  own  and  to  your  own  city.  I 
want  you  to  feel,  as  I  am  sure  Commissioner  Newman  has  made  you 
feel,  that  Washington  is  a  city  in  its  own  right,  its  own  activities, 
its  own  industries,  its  own  interests,  its  own  big  body  of  fine  citizens, 
and  that  it  is  not  altogether  overshadowed  by  the  mantle  of  the 
National  Government  over  it.  It  welcomes  you  as  a  city  with  its  own 
individual  interests,  and  especially  I  desire  to  extend  to  you  the  wel- 
come of  the  school  organization  of  which  it  is  my  privilege  to  be  the 
executive  officer.  We  feel  especially  glad  to  have  you  among  us  to 
deal  with  the  problem  which  we  have  right  here  to  deal  with.  We  are 
very  glad  to  have  you  meet  in  this  building  devoted  to  the  advance- 
ment of  educational  methods  and  the  building  in  which  we  strive  to 
develop  teachers  who  shall  have  within  them  the  real  spirit  of  citizen- 


10  PEOCEEDINGS  OF   FIRST   CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

ship  and  who  shall  be  able  to  develop  a  finer  citizenship.  There  is  no 
more  fitting  place  for  your  meetings  and  your  deliberations  than 
this  one. 

I  suppose  a  great  many  people  speak  of  Washington  as  most  par- 
ticularly an  American  city,  and  yet  we  have  within  our  borders  a 
foreign  proposition  that  so  many  other  cities  have.  We  think  of  it 
as  American  and  yet  here  we  have  a  large  foreign  population.  Much 
of  the  foreign  population  comes  to  this  city  after  it  has  been  broken 
in  elsewhere,  after  it  has  become  a  little  familiar  with  American 
institutions  and  American  ideals,  but  we  have  also  a  considerable 
element  that  needs  just  the  help  that  it  is  intended  the  public  schools 
shall  give  in  the  way  of  preparation  for  citizenship.  I  imagine  that 
within  the  last  three  years  2,000  people  in  Washington  have  expressed 
a  desire  to  become  citizens  or  have  made  out  petitions  to  become  citi- 
zens, and  in  the  night  schools  there  is  here  every  year  a  large  ele- 
ment of  those  who  are  very  anxious  to  get  the  actual  training  which 
will  prepare  them  for  citizenship,  and  gradually  we  hope  to  con- 
vince the  powers  that  be  that  the  funds  are  a  vital  necessity.  We 
have  400  or  500  pupils  each  year  who  are  studying  the  English 
language  and  the  elements  of  citizenship.  We  have  other  foreigners 
who  have  a  knowledge  of  English  sufficient  to  go  into  higher  classes 
and  can  do  a  broader  work.  It  is  rather  a  strange  thing  that  in  the 
working  out  of  our  problems  here  we  have  gradually  evolved  a  line 
of  work  that  is  almost  identical  with  that  outlined  in  the  Outline 
Course  in  Citizenship  prepared  by  the  chairman  of  this  meeting.  So 
we  feel  especially  in  harmony  with  the  organization  of  the  Gov- 
ernment that  has  called  this  meeting  and  with  the  purpose  it  has 
in  view,  and  we  are  hoping  more  and  more  as  the  work  goes  on  that 
we  may  work  in  close  harmony  with  the  National  Government  in 
this  great  movement.  All  of  this,  it  seems  to  me,  is  vital  to  the 
proper  working  out  of  the  problem  the  country  over. 

I  do  feel,  however,  that  this  convention,  whether  small  or  large 
in  numbers,  can  well  afford  to  discuss  one  small  phase  of  the  work — 
the  details  of  the  course  of  study.  If  we  prepare  a  feast  we  need  the 
people  there,  we  need  to  follow  the  people  up,  and  it  seems  to  me 
one  of  the  great  problems  before  you,  as  a  group,  is  that  of  the 
method  of  getting  at  the  people  who  need  the  help,  because  I  find 
as  I  look  into  the  many  methods  of  the  various  cities  that  the 
methods  differ  in  various  places.  Here  the  advertising  method  is 
used,  there  the  poster  method  is  used,  and  in  another  the  employer 
himself,  through  a  special  secretary,  works  out  the  problem  with 
the  foreigner  who  needs  the  help,  and  in  another  place  the  people 
are  reached  through  their  own  race  representatives,  and  so  on, 
method  after  method  is  used  to  reach  these  people.  I  have  been  very 
much  interested  in  that  problem.  I  find  in  our  own  city  our  problem 
was  largely  one  of  taking  care  of  the  people  who  actually  applied. 
A  few  came  to  us  through  the  word  that  the  day-school  teacher  or 
principal  might  have  given  or  through  the  Homan  School  Association. 
However,  we  have  not  the  funds  to  employ  a  representative  to  look 
up  these  people  personally,  as  has  been  done  in  other  places,  and 
the  vast  majority  came  through  the  members  already  in  the  classes. 
When  approached  by  one  of  his  own  race  who  knew  the  value  of  the 
course  the  other  was  brought,  but  that  reaches  only  the  group  which 
is  ready  to  come.  There  is  the  vast  element  in  every  one  of  our 


PROCEEDINGS  OF   FIRST   CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION.  '  11 

cities  that  is  not  ready  to  come  because  it  does  not  recognize  the 
thing,  and  I  believe  we  can  do  very  well  to  discuss  carefully  the 
methods  we  have  employed  to  get  in  touch  with  these  people  in 
the  right  way  and  make  them  realize  the  opportunity  the  Govern- 
ment and  the  public  schools  are  opening  to  them. 

I  wish  you,  then,  the  most  success  in  the  work  that  you  are  to  do 
in  preparing  the  course  and  putting  it  before  the  people  who  need 
it,  and  I  bid  you  a  most  cordial  welcome  to  this  city. 

The  CHAIKMAN.  Superintendent  Thurston  has  very  graphi- 
cally gone  over  the  salient  difficulties  and  problems  with  which  we 
have  been  coping  during  the  past  year,  and  his  speech  of  welcome 
may  well  serve  as  a  guide  in  our  deliberations  during  this  series  of 
meetings.  We  have,  however,  arranged  the  program  of  addresses 
and  also  a  session  where  we  will  discuss  in  a  round-table  talk  the 
various  questions  that  have  come  up,  and  also  consider  at  that  time 
definitely  the  arrangement  of  the  course  of  action  for  the  new  year 
and  prepare  to  finish  and  complete  the  textbook  which  has  been  con- 
tributed to  by  all  of  the  public  schools  of  the  country  where  the  adult 
foreigner  has  been  taught  citizenship  responsibilities  during  the 
past  year. 

We  will  now  have  the  pleasure  of  hearing  an  address  by  the  Hon. 
Louis  F.  Post,  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  Labor.  I  should  like  to 
say  just  this,  preceding  Secretary  Post's  remarks,  that  from  him 
have  come  the  greatest  elements  of  encouragement,  the  greatest  in- 
spiration to  the  Bureau  of  Naturalization.  Even  when  this  work 
was  in  its  inception  he  in  every  way  offered  encouragement,  advice, 
and  his  official  sanction  to  forward  the  steps  in  this  great  movement. 
I  am  sure  we  are  very  greatly  indebted  to  Mr.  Post  for  coming  here 
this  morning,  and  I  am  sure  he  has  a  good  message  for  us. 

ADDRESS  OF  ASSISTANT  SECRETARY  LOUIS  F.  POST. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  My  emotions  were  somewhat  mixed  as  I 
listened  to  the  two  speeches  of  welcome.  I  realized  that  it  was  abso- 
lutely true  what  Commissioner  Newman  told  you,  that  this  is  an 
undemocratic  city  in  what  aims  to  be  a  great  democratic  Nation  or 
Commonwealth.  However,  we  have  equal  suffrage  in  this  town. 
Man  or  woman,  it  makes  no  difference;  neither  one  can  vote.  That 
is  the  reason  my  emotions  are  mixed.  Mr.  Thurston  speaks  of  the 
city  as  being  your  city,  assuming  you  came  from  outside  of  it.  Well, 
it  really  is  the  city  of  all  the  people  of  the  United  States,  whether 
inside  or  outside,  to  the  extent  that  Mr.  Thurston  prudently  indi- 
cated ;  that  is  to  say,  we  all  have  the  privilege,  with  regard  to  this 
city,  of  paying  half  its  taxes.  Beyond  that  I  doubt  if  any  privileges 
extend.  Yet  it  is  a  fine  city,  and  I  hope  that  some  day  it  may  turn 
out  to  be  really  a  democratic  city,  and  that  those  who  pay  the  taxes 
to  support  it,  whether  they  live  inside  or  outside  of  it,  may  also  share 
in  the  dividends  that  come  from  owning  the  site  upon  which  the  city 
is  built. 


12  '  PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

Now,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  may  help  you  somewhat  with  refer- 
ence to  the  purposes  of  our  meeting  by  describing  the  official  relation- 
ship of  the  Department  of  Labor  to  the  Bureau  of  Naturalization 
and  to  this  gathering.  I  do  not  know  but  that  it  would  be  prudent  to 
assume  that  it  is  already  clear  to  every  intelligent  person,  but  I  am 
going  to  take  chances  on  that. 

The  Department  of  Labor  is  the  tenth  and  youngest  of  what  are 
called  the  executive  departments  of  the  Government;  that  is  to  say, 
the  head  of  the  Department  of  Labor  is  a  member  of  the  President's 
Cabinet  and  manages  one  of  the  President's  general  functions.  This 
department  was  created  only  3  years  and  a  few  months  ago,  after  an 
agitation  for  it  extending  over  a  period  of  50  years.  That  agitation 
resulted,  first,  in  securing  a  Department  of  Labor  which  was  not 
an  executive  department.  The  head  of  it  did  not  sit  in  the  President's 
Cabinet.  After  a  lapse  of  several  years  and  continuous  agitation 
Congress  was  finally  in  a  mood  to  grant  the  original  request  by 
creating  a  real  Department  of  Labor — a  portion  of  Congress  was. 
But  there  was  also  introduced  at  the  same  tune  a  measure  for  a 
Department  of  Commerce,  a  business  department,  and  the  two  were 
hitched  together  and  called  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor. 
Naturally  such  a  department  could  consider  business  interests  only. 
It  had  the  business  point  of  view,  and  labor  interests  were  not  satis- 
factorily considered.  So  the  agitation  continued  until  3  years  ago, 
when  a  bill  was  passed  by  Congress  providing  for  a  divorce  of  the 
Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  its  continuance  as  a  Depart- 
ment of  Commerce — a  business  department — and  the  creation  out  of 
its  remnants  of  a  Department  of  Labor,  in  accordance  with  the  re- 
quest that  had  been  made  many  years  before.  President  Taft  signed 
that  bill  in  the  last  minutes  of  his  administration,  and  President  Wil- 
son appointed  the  first  Secretary  of  Labor  in  the  first  minutes  of  his 
administration.  His  appointee  was  William  B.  Wilson,  who,  I 
understand,  is  on  the  program  for  this  gathering  for  a  later  day. 
Mr.  Wilson  was  an  ideal  man  for  the  particular  functions  of  that 
department.  Its  purpose,  as  stated  in  the  organic  act,  is  something 
to  the  effect  that  it  shall  foster,  promote,  and  develop  the  welfare 
of  the  wage  earners  of  the  United  States,  improve  their  working 
conditions,  and  advance  their  opportunities  for  profitable  employ- 
ment. It  was  a  very  wise  thing  or  else  a  great  mistake  to  put  the 
word  "  profitable  "  into  that  law.  I  have  frequently  said  that  who- 
ever put  that  word  there  knew  what  he  was  about  or  did  not  know 
what  he  was  about.  If  he  did  not  know  what  he  was  about  he  made  a 
great  "  fluke."  If  he  did  know  what  he  was  about  he  was  a  very  wise 
man,  for  "  opportunity  for  profitable  employment  "  is  a  very  different 
thing  from  "  opportunity  for  employment."  There  are  always  plenty 
of  opportunities  for  employment.  Really,  I  think  that  I  myself 
could  employ  a  thousand  men.  But  the  employment  would  not  be 
profitable — not  to  them.  So,  it  was  a  very  wise  thing  or  else  a  great 
mistake  to  put  the  word  "  profitable  "  into  that  law. 

In  the  Department  of  Labor  is  the  Bureau  of  Naturalization,  which 
especially  calls  this  meeting.  It  is  the  only  governmental  agency, 
I  think  I  can  freely  say,  that  is  charged  with  any  direct  respon- 
sibility whatever  for  keeping  our  citizenship  clean  and  for  making 
it  better.  Other  agencies  have  entered  upon  that  work,  but  I  know  of 
no  others  that  are  so  charged.  The  Bureau  of  Naturalization,  which 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION.  13 

is  one  of  four  bureaus  in  the  Department  of  Labor,  is  alone  spe- 
cifically charged  with  the  whole  subject  of  naturalization  in  a  super- 
visory and  administrative  way;  that  is  to  say,  although  the  courts 
naturalize  judicially,  the  Bureau  of  Naturalization  assists  the  courts 
administratively.  It  can  do  that  in  two  ways — in  either  one  or  both 
of  two  ways.  It  can  do  it  by  acting  as  a  detective  agency,  by  advis- 
ing the  courts  of  the  unfitness  of  the  applicants  for  citizenship  that 
come  before  them.  This  is  a  useful  function  and  one  that  has  been 
efficiently  administered  by  the  bureau.  It  can  also  do  something 
else,  something  beyond  the  mere  detective  work  of  preventing  unfit 
naturalizations.  It  can  do  the  work  of  trying  to  secure  fit  naturaliza- 
tions, which  after  all  is  the  more  important  work  of  the  two.  But 
it  is  limited  with  reference  to  both  to  this  extent.  It  can  not  deal 
with  native-born  citizens.  It  has  no  jurisdiction  with  reference  to 
their  citizenship.  Its  jurisdiction  is  confined  to  the  alien  who  seeks 
citizenship — only  to  the  alien  who  seeks  citizenship.  It  can  not,  it 
must  not,  approach  the  alien  who  has  not  yet  applied  for  first  papers. 
So  long  as  an  alien  has  not  made  application  for  his  first  papers,  he 
has  not  given  the  notice  to  his  own  Government  and  to  our  Govern- 
ment that  he  intends  to  change  his  citizenship;  and  until  he  gives 
that  notice  any  interference  by  the  Federal  Government  might  be  an 
unwelcome  interference  in  the  eyes  of  the  foreign  country  from 
which  that  alien  comes.  But  once  an  alien  has  declared  his  intention 
to  become  a  citizen  two  duties  devolve  upon  the  Bureau  of  Naturali- 
zation :  One  is  to  see  that  the  court  does  not  improvidently  admit  him 
to  citizenship;  the  other  function  is  to  try  to  see  to  it  that  every 
alien  who  makes  that  declaration  shall  be  fitted  for  citizenship  when 
he  comes  before  the  court,  which  is  two  years  at  least  after  his 
declaration  of  intention. 

Now,  it  is  in  furtherance  of  those  two  functions  that  this  confer- 
ence is  gathered.  Its  object  is  to  bring  the  statutory  powers  of  the 
Department  of  Labor  and  its  Bureau  of  Naturalization  into  a  union 
with  the  opportunities  for  promoting  good  citizenship  that  offer 
themselves  to  those  who  do  teaching  in  the  United  States.  That 
department  and  this  bureau  are  asking  your  assistance.  Your  as- 
sistance to  do  what  ?  Something  more  than  what  for  the  most  part, 
I  take  it,  you  are  now  doing.  Your  assistance  in  making  Americans 
of  foreigners  who  are  about  to  be  naturalized,  or  who  are  seeking 
naturalization.  And  this  is  asked  with  a  hope  that  in  your  efforts 
to  make  American  citizens  of  aliens  who  seek  naturalization  you 
will  as  a  sort  of  by-product  also  make  American  citizens  of  the 
American  born  who  come  within  your  jurisdiction  as  teachers.  In 
other  words,  we  are  reaching  out  tor  an  upbuilding  of  all  American 
citizenship. 

We  hear  the  word  "Americanism  "  frequently,  and  that  is  what  I 
have  been  asked  to  speak  to  you  about  especially.  What  we  ask  is 
that  you  try  to  teach  Americanism  both  to  the  foreign  and  the  native 
born.  But  what  are  we  to  understand  by  Americanism?  The  al- 
mighty dollar?  That  is  not  Americanism.  Having  a  chip  on  our 
shoulder  and  being  always  willing  and  eager  to  fight?  Love  of 
fighting  has  indeed  been  put  abroad  as  the  essence  of  Americanism, 
but  is  it  so?  I  am  not  one  of  those  who  think  we  should  not  fight 
when  the  occasion  demands,  but  I  am  one  of  those  who  think  we 


14  PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST   CITIZENSHIP   CONVENTION. 

should  not  fight  until  our  institutions  are  threatened.  Our  fighting 
should  be  in  defense,  not  for  mere  love  of  fighting;  and  not  for  ag- 
gression or  conquest  of  foreign  territory. 

Americanism  is  even  more  than  that.  It  is  more,  too,  than  the  ideal 
that  was  put  forth  many  years  ago  and  is  frequently  repeated  now, 
"  My  country,  right  or  wrong."  That  is  a  low  ideal  of  Americanism. 
Consider  its  selfishness:  My  country,  right  or  wrong!  My  State, 
right  or  wrong!  My  county,  right  or  wrong!  My  city,  right  or 
wrong !  My  family,  right  or  wrong !  Me,  right  or  wrong !  That  is 
what  it  all  amounts  to — Me !  But  Americanism  means  much  more 
than  that.  It  means  that  we  must  see  to  it  that  our  country  is  right ; 
that  is,  when  we  have  citizenship  and  the  ballot. 

If  our  citizens,  native  or  alien  born,  are  to  become  real  American 
citizens,  it  is  the  ideals  of  our  country  that  must  be  put  before  them. 
Its  Constitution,  of  course,  and  reading  and  writing  the  English 
language.  Ability  to  understand  one  another  in  our  speech;  that  is 
of  the  highest  importance ;  that  is  of  the  first  importance.  We  must 
try  to  build  up  a  common  language  at  any  rate — and,  of  course,  the 
English  language  is  the  language  that  has  precedence — so  that  what- 
ever our  thoughts,  from  the  highest  station  to  the  most  humble  place, 
everyone  shall  understand  through  speech  and  writing  what  the 
thoughts  of  his  fellow  citizens  are.  That  is  of  the  very  fundamentals 
of  it  all,  and  to  that  extent  the  public  schools  are  promoting  Ameri- 
canism, are  promoting  American  citizenship.  It  is  important,  too, 
that  our  citizens  should  understand  the  general  principles  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  the  principles  of  the  mechanism  that 
regulates  our  Federal  Government  and  of  the  mechanism  that  regu- 
lates the  governments  of  our  various  States.  All  this  is  important, 
but  there  is  one  part  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  that  is 
constantly,  if  not  persistently,  overlooked  throughout  our  whole 
citizenship,  and  that  is  the  amendment  clause.  I  want  to  say  that,  in 
my  judgment,  the  amendment  clause  is  just  as  important  a  clause, 
just  as  vital,  just  as  sacred  as  any  other  part  of  the  Constitution,  and 
if  we  have  real  Americanism  it  should  be  taught  as  freely  and  as  dis- 
tinctly and  methodically.  With  a  growing  people  what  could  be 
more  important  in  their  Constitution  than  the  amendment  clause? 
A  Constitution  made  over  100  years  ago,  if  fitted  for  the  conditions 
of  that  time,  must  have  an  amending  clause,  so  that  it  can  be  fitted 
to  later  periods ;  and  whatever  has  been  the  practice  in  the  past  I 
want  to  emphasize  the  importance  of  teaching  that  clause  along  with 
every  other  important  clause  of  the  Federal  Constitution. 

Americanism,  however,  has  its  roots  deeper  down  than  in  any  Con- 
stitution. It  has  its  roots  in  the  first  phrases,  the  earlier  phrases,  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence:  "All  men  are  created  equal  and 
endowed  with  certain  unalienable  rights,  among  which  are  life,  lib- 
erty, and  the  pursuit  of  happiness."  That  is  the  North  Star  of  Ameri- 
canism. Whenever  we  steer  away  from  that  we  are  steering  in  the 
wrong  direction.  That  is  the  great  ideal  of  democracy.  Jefferson 
formulated  it,  Lincoln  repeated  it.  It  was  our  North  Star  in  those 
days ;  it  is  our  North  Star  to-day.  It  is  the  supreme  test  of  Ameri- 
canism. Whether  we  have  a  question  of  fighting  to  the  death  upon 
battle  fields,  or  a  question  of  legislation,  or  a  question  of  administra- 
tion, that  is  the  test  to  which  it  must  be  put.  What  direction  is  it 


PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST  CITIZENSHIP   CONVENTION.  15 

leading  in?  Does  our  administration  or  our  legislation  lead  away 
from  the  great  principle  that  Jefferson  announced  and  that  Lincoln 
reiterated,  or  does  it  lead  toward  the  American  ideal?  Any  legis- 
lation or  administration,  any  education  that  leads  away  from  that 
ideal  is  un-American,  no  matter  how  valuable  it  may  be  in  other 
respects. 

You  may  say  that  this  is  not  American  especially;  that  it  is  a 
universal  principle — the  brotherhood  of  man  and  the  fatherhood  of 
God.  Well,  my  friends,  America  is  not  peculiarly  American,  either. 
America  is,  as  Lincoln  said,  an  experiment  in  popular  government 
on  a  large  scale,  the  largest  in  all  human  history,  of  the  principle  of 
the  fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man,  of  the  principle 
of  equality  of  men,  not  equality  of  men  in  this  country  merely,  but 
an  experiment  in  this  country  that  may  spread  all  over  the  world. 
Our  Government  rests  upon  that  universal  principle.  This  is  Ameri- 
canism, this  is  the  American  ideal,  and  with  the  care  and  promotion 
of  this  ideal  we,  as  Americans,  are  charged. 

It  is  the  function  of  the  Department  of  Labor  and  the  Bureau  of 
Naturalization  and  of  the  teachers  who  are  educating  citizens,  both 
alien  and  native  born — it  is  their  function  to  see  that  we  promote  and 
retain  that  ideal,  not  for  ourselves  alone  but  for  all  mankind.  It  is 
simply,  of  course,  the  second  great  commandment,  "  Love  thy  neigh- 
bor as  thyself,"  which  was  given  to  the  children  of  Israel.  It  is  the 
golden  rule  reduced  to  political  form,  and  the  golden  rule  not  re- 
duced to  political  form  loses  more  than  half  its  value  in  practice. 
There  you  have  something  th;it  we  may  fight  for.  I  must  confess  to 
have  had  always  a  sort  of  fellow  feeling  for  the  old  westerner  who 
had  come  East  and  was  asked  various  things  about  the  distant  West. 
Among  other  things  he  was  asked  what  kind  of  laws  they  had.  He 
said  they  didn't  have  much  law  out  there:  that  about  the  only  law 
they  had  was  the  golden  rule,  and  if  a  man  didn't  keep  that  they 
hanged  him.  When  outside  folks  won't  keep  the  golden  rule,  then 
it  is  time  to  mobilize  and  fight.  I  am  not  saying  that  a  time  for 
fighting  may  ever  come,  but  I  feel  quite  sure  that  it  does  not  come 
much  ahead  of  that  contingency. 

Now,  my  friends,  I  want  to  add  one  thing  so  that  you  will  not  be 
under  any  misapprehension.  I  envy  Mr.  Thurston  and  Mr.  Newman 
for  the  training  they  have  had.  One  was  a  newspaper  man,  and  that 
involves  very  intense  training  in  not  expressing  your  own  thoughts; 
the  other  has  been  trained  as  a  school-teacher,  and  in  a  more  subtle 
and  more  elevating  way  that  tends  in  the  same  direction.  So  they 
come  here  as  trained  men.  Each  of  them  is  administratively  respon- 
sible; each  of  them  must  be  very  careful  not  to  say  anything  that 
would  reflect  upon  his  own  office  or  that  might  be  improper  for  them 
to  say.  And  they  have  succeeded.  I  envy  them  because  I  never  had 
that  kind  of  training.  I  was  brought  up  without  any  training  at  all. 
So  I  got  into  the  habit  of  saying  pretty  much  whatever  I  thought ; 
or,  as  some  of  my  friends  express  it,  I  have  lived  nearly  60  years  prac- 
ticing "  shooting  off  of  my  mouth."  Please  do  not  hold  my  superiors 
responsible — please  do  not  hold  me  officially  responsible — for  any- 
thing I  have  said  in  this  talk;  and  do  not  hold  the  chairman  of  this 
meeting  responsible.  If  you  have  any  complaint  to  make,  I  will  have 
it  out  with  you  somewhere  else. 


16  PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST  CITIZENSHIP   CONVENTION. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  we  have  received  one  of 
the  many  treats  that  will  be  ours  during  these  sessions.  The  educa- 
tional work  in  which  the  public  schools  and  the  Bureau  of  Naturali- 
zation have  been  engaged  is  at  first  glance  possibly  only  teaching  the 
candidate  for  citizenship  how  to  answer  questions  in  the  court  room 
at  the  time  he  has  his  hearing  and  is  questioned  by  the  judges.  If 
it  meant  that  only,  of  course  it  would  be  very  deficient  in  the  pur- 
poses and  possibilities  for  which  the  public  schools  are  working.  It 
is  not  possible  always  to  refer  to  much  more  than  the  surface,  but 
this  work  goes  much  deeper  than  that.  It  teaches  the  golden  rule, 
and  is  based  upon  that  principle. 

Commissioner  Campbell,  of  the  Bureau  of  Naturalization,  desires 
to  give  you — and  we  are  pleased  to  have  him  do  so — a  few  thoughts 
which  he  has  entertained  with  regard  to  this  work. 

ADDRESS  OF  RICHARD  K.  CAMPBELL,   COMMISSIONER   OF 
NATURALIZATION. 

Mr.  CHAIRMAN,  LADIES,  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  I  promised  myself  and 
indirectly  through  the  omission  of  my  name  from  the  program 
promised  this  audience  that  it  would  not  have  to  listen  to  the  Com- 
missioner of  Naturalization.  But,  nevertheless,  after  listening  to 
these  beautiful  addresses  this  morning  and  being  entirely  safe,  as  the 
speakers  are  all  gone,  I  want  to  say  that  none  of  them  has  touched 
the  thing  in  which  we  are  interested. 

Think  what  it  is  that  we  have  to  deal  with.  That  is  the  point. 
What  is  the  material  on  which  we  are  going  to  work?  There  may 
be  among  them  immigrants  of  the  most  uncouth  and  most  ignorant 
description.  They  may  present  every  external  evidence  exclusively 
of  the  gross  animal  side  of  human  nature.  We  may  doubt  their  intel- 
lectual capacity  to  receive  any  kind  of  instruction,  but  we  have  this 
to  work  upon :  They  are  all  human  beings  and  each  has  got  a  heart. 
That  is  the  thing  we  have  got  to  work  on.  We  have  got  to  work  on 
the  human  heart,  and  we  have  the  highest  assurance  that  the  human 
heart  is  fashioned  alike.  We  have  the  same  loves,  the  same  hates,  the 
same  natural  desires.  It  does  not  matter  how  glossed  over  we  are 
by  so-called  civilization,  or  how  primitive  we  are,  our  fundamental 
loves  are  the  same.  The  natural  sequence  of  that  proposition  is  that 
every  man  on  the  face  of  the  earth  is  by  nature  an  American.  That 
may  surprise  you,  but  does  not  every  man  love  freedom  for  himself, 
freedom  of  locomotion,  freedom  of  speech,  freedom  of  opportunity 
to  develop,  freedom  of  home  life — the  enjoyment  of  all  those  op- 
portunities which  his  Maker  intended  him  to  have  and  which  the 
conventions  of  man  have  denied  him?  Now,  this  is  our  working 
basis,  and  to  prove  to  you  that  this  is  a  sound  proposition  i  want  to 
call  your  attention  to  a  news  article. 

If  any  of  you  saw  the  New  York  Times  of  yesterday,  the  9th  of 
July,  and  looked  at  the  department  that  is  devoted  to  literature  and 
topics  of  general  interest,  you  would  have  found  an  article  written  by 
the  military  attache"  of  a  foreign  embassy  at  this  Capital.  Its  burden 
is  the  loss  that  the  country  he  represents  has  sustained  by  immigra- 


PROCEEDINGS  OF   FIRST   CITIZENSHIP   CONVENTION.  17 

tion  to  the  United  States.  Its  purpose  is  to  suggest  all  kinds  of  means 
to  prevent  these  immigrants,  who  have  come  to  this  country  to  better 
their  condition  presumably,  from  becoming  Americans  and  thus 
from  being  severed  in  heart  as  well  as  in  space  from  their  former 
allegiance.  This  shows  that  the  writer  perceives  the  natural  bent 
of  the  human  heart.  He  asks  that  more  representatives  of  his  Gov- 
ernment be  sent  here  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  these  immigrants 
loyal  to  the  country  of  their  origin.  Do  you  not  see  that  even  with- 
out the  instruction  that  we  want  to  give  these  people  the  officials  of 
foreign  Governments  realize  that  the  basic  principle  of  the  Consti- 
tution is  so  vital  and  so  active  that  it  is  going  to  creep  through  the 
obstacles  by  its  own  force  and  reach  their  hearts,  and  that  if  it  does 
so  they  will  abandon  their  native  countries  and  seek  American  citi- 
zenship ? 

When  one  of  the  distinguished  and  eloquent  gentlemen  who  pre- 
ceded me  a  few  moments  ago  pointed  out  in  detail  what  an  aspirant 
for  American  citizenship  should  be  taught,  he  made  the  statement 
that  it  is  also  important  to  consider  the  principles  of  the  Constitu- 
tion. My  good  friends,  that  is  the  one  thing  that  is  important.  The 
Constitution  and  the  laws  of  this  country  are  for  no  other  purpose 
than  to  put  into  active  and  vital  operation  those  principles  of  hu- 
manity upon  which  that  Constitution  is  based.  Our  President  has 
said  it  is  not  America  for  Americans,  but  America  for  humanity. 
True  Americanism  means  the  elevation  of  mankind  wherever  resi- 
dent. The  example  of  America  has  done  much  to  modify  the  disad- 
vantages under  which  the  citizens  of  autocratic  governments  labor. 
It  will  do  much  more.  It  is  bound  to  prevail,  because  it  is  the  truth 
and  the  living  truth  and  has  a  vital  force  in  it  that  no  human  power 
can  gainsay.  It  is  not  difficult  to  teach  these  people  that  much.  It 
is  not  difficult  to  teach  them  what  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
says  about  human  rights.  The  difficult  thing  is  to  teach  them  that 
they  shall  not  use  their  position  as  freemen  under  our  laws  t<*put 
their  foot  upon  the  neck  of  a  brother  man.  Every  person  within  the 
reach  of  my  voice  knows  that  so  far  as  we  have  had  trouble  in  this 
country — industrial  trouble,  social  trouble,  class  trouble — it  is  be- 
cause those  who  have  risen  to  the  top  are  determined  to  follow  the 
Old  World  example  and  selfishly  utilize  the  ones  that  are  at  the 
bottom. 

So  the  thing  to  teach  these  foreigners  and  to  teach  our  American 
children — and  I  believe  the  teaching  of  the  foreigner  will  be  merely 
the  prelude  to  teaching  the  American  child — is  a  devotion  to  the 
American  principles. 

"  The  court  shall  be  satisfied  that  the  petitioner  is  attached  to  the 
principles  of  the  American  Constitution."  Now',  ladies  and  gentle- 
men, if  he  is  attached  to  the  principles  because  it  is  a  vital  truth,  he 
will  be  just  as  reluctant  to  violate  it  himself  as  he  will  be  rebellious 
against  violations  of  it  by  others.  In  other  words,  this  high  principle 
of  government  of  self  from  a  love  of  liberty  and  justice  is  the  an- 
tithesis of  all  those  governmental  machines  based  upon  fictitious 
authority  as  an  ideal  of  human  political  existence,  and  this  ideal 
is  one  in  which  the  very  essence  of  that  rule  which  is  indispensable 
under  all  conditions  to  harmony  in  man's  relations  with  man---the 
golden  rule — is  embodied. 

70552°— 17 2 


18  PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST   CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

• 

The  CHAIRMAN.  What  we  have  heard  is  but  the  natural  result  of 
a  great  many  years  of  contact  with  the  alien  in  various  administra- 
tive ways.  Years  of  experience  in  the  administration  of  the  immigra- 
tion law  prior  to  the  assumption  of  Federal  supervision  of  the  nat- 
uralization law  has  inspired  not  only  the  Commissioner  of  Naturali- 
zation with  these  ideals,  with  these  thoughts,  but  the  reaction  has 
been  felt  throughout  the  entire  Naturalization  Service. 

References  have  been  made  here  to  the  public  schools  by  the  super- 
intendent of  schools,  by  the  commissioner  of  the  District,  by  the  As- 
sistant Secretary  of  Labor,  and  no  one  has  yet  referred  to  that  loyal 
body  of  men  to  be  found  out  on  the  frontier,  bearing  the  brunt  of 
this  work,  developing  public  interest,  and  standing  by  the  courts  and 
the  country  in  preventing  admission  to  American  citizenship  of  un- 
desirable elements  of  the  foreigners. 

For  a  century  and  over  this  law  was  permitted  to  be  administered 
without  supervision.  The  courts  yielded  to  the  pressure  that  was 
brought  to  bear  upon  them  for  the  breaking  down  of  this  law,  and 
it  was  not  until  1906  that  Federal  supervision  was  authorized  by 
Congress,  and  on  July  1,  1909,  the  Federal  Bureau  of  Naturalization 
was  given  a  field  force  of  men.  Those  men  all  feel  these  impulses; 
they  all  have  these  ideals ;  they  are  men  of  the  highest  type ;  they  are 
the  best  of  American  citizens;  they  are  native  born  and  foreign 
born  as  well;  and  therefore  it  is  to  them  we  should  very  properly 
refer  as  the  ones  who  are  blazing  the  way  that  carries  within  itself 
these  ideals.  That  they  have  these  ideals  is  exemplified  by  the 
manner  in  which  they  conduct  their  examination,  and  their  be- 
havior in  the  court  room,  where  they  stand  as  the  barrier  and  as  the 
representatives  of  the  United  States  Government  in  the  administra- 
tion, in  the  actual  administration,  of  the  naturalization  law,  in  the 
admission  or  denial  of  admission  to  citizenship  of  these  foreign- 
ers who  are  desirous  of  becoming  American  citizens. 

The  next  speaker  on  the  program  is  Mr.  Robert  S.  Coleman,  the 
chief  naturalization  examiner  at  St.  Paul,  Minn.  He  has  charge 
of  the  district  comprising  the  States  of  North  and  South  Dakota, 
Minnesota,  and  portions  of  Wisconsin  and  Michigan.  Mr.  Coleman 
will  speak  on  the  "  Evening  schools  for  foreigners  in  the  Northwest." 

ADDRESS  OF  ROBERT  S.  COLEMAN,  CHIEF  NATURALIZATION 
EXAMINER  AT  ST.  PAUL,  MINN. 

Mr.  CHAIRMAN,  LADIES,  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  I  have  been  referred  to 
as  about  to  deliver  to  you  a  speech.  I  assure  you,  however,  that  that 
is  not  my  intention.  It  is  a  great  privilege  to  come  here  on  this 
occasion  and  join  with  you  in  this  great  movement  for  the  education 
of  the  foreigner  residing  in  our  midst,  so  that  he  may  acquire  a 
knowledge  of  our  language,  our  institutions,  and  our  ideals,  and  thus 


PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST   CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION.  19 

fit  himself  for  the  duties  and  responsibilities  as  well  as  the  privileges 
of  American  citizenship. 

As  stated  by  the  chairman,  I  come  from  the  Northwest,  and  I  want 
to  tell  you  that  the  good  people  of  that  great  section  of  our  country 
are  aware  of  the  importance  of  this  great  undertaking,  and  that  they 
are  coming  to  support  this  movement  in  constantly  increasing  num- 
bers. 

In  the  great  expanse  of  country  with  which  I  am  immediately  con- 
cerned— the  States  of  Minnesota,  North  Dakota,  South  Dakota,  the 
larger  part  of  Wisconsin,  and  the  northern  peninsula  of  Michigan — 
we  have  alien  settlers  from  practically  every  country  on  the  globe, 
the  largest  numbers  being  from  the  Scandinavian  countries,  Ger- 
many, Great  Britain  and  Canada,  Russia,  and  Austria-Hungary. 
In  the  city  of  Minneapolis  the  predominating  foreign-born  popula- 
tion is  Swedish  and  Norwegian-,  in  St.  Paul  the  percentage  is  great- 
est of  the  Austro-Hungarians  and  Germans;  on  the  great  iron  and 
copper  ranges  in  northern  Minnesota,  Wisconsin,  and  Michigan  it 
is  largely  Finnish,  Austro-Hungarian,  and  British;  in  the  great 
farming  and  public  homestead  sections  the  foreign-born  population 
is  mostly  from  the  Scandinavian  countries,  Germany,  Russia,  and 
Great  Britain  and  Canada.  Sprinkled  liberally  in  all  of  the  locali- 
ties I  have  mentioned  are  groups  of  foreigners  from  Belgium,  Hol- 
land, Greece,  Italy,  Turkey,  Switzerland,  France,  Roumania,  Serbia, 
and  Bulgaria.  So  you  will  observe  that  the  melting  pot  in  the  great 
Northwest  has  plenty  to  do  to  teach  these  many  peoples  our  lan- 
guage and  our  ideals  and  absorb  them  into  the  body  politic  as  Amer- 
ican citizens. 

It  was  not  until  last  September  that  the  Naturalization  Service, 
incidental  to  its  other  important  work,  began  a  systematic  effort  in 
the  Northwest  to  further  the  organization  of  free  evening  schools 
for  foreign-born  men  and  women.  At  that  time  the  annual  budgets 
for  the  school  year  had  already  been  practically  completed.  Never- 
theless, the  people  to  whom  we  appealed  in  the  matter  became  so 
earnestly  impressed  with  its  importance  that  before  the  end  of  the 
winter  there  were  night  schools  devoted  specially  to  foreign-born 
men  and  women  in  a  great  many  cities  and  towns  in  the  five  States 
with  which  I  am  officially  concerned.  In  most  of  these  places  the 
money  necessary  for  the  establishment  of  these  nights  schools  was 
readily  forthcoming  from  the  public-school  funds;  in  some  places, 
however,  we  secured  the  opening  of  schools  only  by  patient  efforts 
on  our  part  and  by  appealing  not  only  to  public-school  authorities, 
buc  to  public-spirited  citizens,  civic  and  commercial  organizations, 
and  large  employers  of  labor.  In  some  especially  difficult  places 
we  ascertained  by  careful  inquiry  who  were  the  most  influential  men 
in  this  or  that  nationality  that  was  predominant  in  the  community 
and  secured  their  hearty  support  not  only  in  urging  the  appropria- 
tion of  funds  and  the  opening  of  schools,  but  in  securing  attendance 
therein  on  the  part  of  those  needing  the  instruction.  In  some  places, 
where  the  limitation  of  the  law  and  of  the  available  school  funds 
was  such  as  to  make  it  impracticable,  at  least  for  the  time  being, 
to  appropriate  money  for  this  purpose,  local  civic  and  commercial 
bodies  volunteered  to  provide  the  funds  to  pay  the  teachers,  as,  for 
instance,  was  done  in  the  city  of  Sioux  Falls,  S.  Dak.  In  other 


20  PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST   CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

places,  such,  for  instance,  as  Bismarck,  N.  Dak.,  and  in  a  number 
of  rural  communities  in  northern  Minnesota  and  North  Dakota 
earnest  and  enthusiastic  women  volunteered  to  teach  in  these  schools 
free  of  charge,  and  in  quite  a  number  of  localities  within  my  knowl- 
edge these  splendid  self-sacrificing  women  had  to  drive  or  ride  a 
great  many  miles  in  cold  evenings  to  reach  the  country  schoolhouses 
where  the  classes  were  conducted.  The  little  band  of  women  in  Bis- 
marck, N.  Dak.,  who  had  been  volunteering  their  services  in  the  night 
schools  for  foreigners  there  recently  informed  me  that  they  were  so 
deeply  interested  in  their  work  that  they  intended  to  continue  the 
school  during  the  summer  months.  I  desire  to  make  especial  men- 
tion here  of  the  excellent  work  being  done  in  the  night  schools  for 
foreigners  in  the  cities  and  villages  on  the  great  iron  ranges  of 
Minnesota.  They  are  the  pioneers  in  this  work  in  the  Northwest. 
Most  gratifying  work  is  also  being  done  in  this  connection  in  the 
mining  towns  along  the  copper  and  iron  ranges  in  northern  Michi- 
gan. It  is  an  inspiring  sight  to  go  into  some  of  these  night  schools 
in  the  mining  centers  and  see  there  assembled  200  or  300  foreign- 
born  men  and  women,  representing  many  countries,  races,  and  creeds, 
all  eagerly  absorbing  the  instruction  of  the  teachers.  It  is  not  an 
uncommon  sight  in  some  of  these  schools  to  see  foreign-born  men 
and  their  wives  sitting  side  by  side  receiving  instruction  while  their 
babies  lie  asleep  on  benches  near  by. 

I  feel  that  I  can  assure  you  that  the  Northwest  is  going  forward 
in  this  great  movement.  A  large  number  of  night  schools  have  been 
started,  and  we  have  assurances  that  a  much  larger  number  will  be 
opened  in  the  next  school  year.  In  the  city  of  Minneapolis,  for  the 
school  year  just  closed,  there  were  night  schools  in  16  different  school 
buildings  throughout  the  city  in  which  a  great  range  of  instruction 
was  given,  including  the  English  language  and  civics  for  foreigners. 
There  was  a  total  enrollment  in  the  Minneapolis  night  schools  last 
winter  of  nearly  8,000?  the  great  majority  being  of  foreign  birth. 
The  city  of  St.  Paul  is  likewise  active  along  these  lines.  It  was 
only  last  winter  that  we  got  the  city  of  St.  Paul  to  open  free  night 
schools  entirely  under  the  auspices  of  the  public-school  authorities. 
Classes  wrere  held  in  one  centrally  located  building.  In  the  coming 
school  year  St.  Paul  expects  to  have  these  schools  opened  in  each 
section  of  the  city  where  foreigners  are  located.  The  civic  and  com- 
mercial organizations  of  both  cities  are  carefully  planning  a  propa- 
ganda to  get  the  corporations  and  employers  of  foreign  labor  to 
encourage  and  urge  their  employees  to  attend  the  night  schools.  The 
State  of  Wisconsin,  which  is  always  these  days  found  in  the  front 
rank  of  progressive  thought  and  action,  has  many  successful  night 
schools  for  foreigners,  and  expects  to  open  more. 

Up  to  last  fall  there  was  no  such  thing  as  a  night  school  in  South 
Dakota,  but  during  the  past  winter  flourishing  night  schools  for 
foreigners  were  established  in  Sioux  Falls.  Aberdeen,  Huron,  Lead, 
and  Mitchell.  As  an  illustration  of  the  spirit  of  South  Dakota  in 
this  movement,  the  school  authorities  of  the  city  of  Aberdeen  re- 
cently sent  me  word  that  their  slogan  for  next  year  would  be  "The 
best  night  schools  for  foreigners  in  the  United  States." 

I  thank  you. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION.  21 

The  CHAIRMAN.  What  you  have  heard  from  Chief  Examiner 
Coleman  could  be  repeated  in  10  other  naturalization  districts  of  the 
country.  What  he  has  had  to  say  has  been  duplicated  in  every  one 
of  these  districts,  and  the  organization  of  the  public  schools  in  650 
cities  and  towns  of  the  country  is  a  real  organization.  There  is  noth- 
ing on  paper  about  that  organization.  It  is  filled  with  public  schools, 
and  the  public  schools  are  filled  with  the  foreigners  who  are  seeking 
American  citizenship. 

While  the  administration  of  this  law  up  to  this  time  would  have 
been  an  impossibility  without  the  examining  force,  the  force  of 
naturalization  examiners  has  been  linked,  in  ties  that  can  not  be 
severed,  with  the  great  American  institution — the  public  schools  of 
the  United  States.  These  two  and  the  judiciary  of  the  United  States 
have  promised  us  to  unite  and  support  the  administrative  branch  of 
the  Government  in  reaching  the  highest  ideals  in  the  enforcement 
of  the  naturalization  law.  That  leaves  out  the  legislative  branch 
of  the  Government — that  is,  by  inference.  However,  none  of  the  ad- 
ministrative functions  of  the  Government  can  go  along  without  the 
necessary  sustenance,  and  the  legislative  branch  of  the  Government 
has  responded  liberally,  freely,  and  regularly  to  our  calls  for  funds. 

This  morning,  in  addition  to  that,  we  have  by  coincidence  a  Rep- 
resentative in  Congress  from  the  same  district  with  which  Mr.  Cole- 
man is  connected.  Representative  Clarence  B.  Miller,  of  Minnesota, 
will  now  give  us  what  we  always  have  at  the  end  of  a  nice  feast — 
a  very  enjoyable  dessert.  Mr.  Miller  will  talk  and  show  in  motion 
pictures  and  in  slides  the  school  activities,  not  only  some  of  those  in 
the  United  States  but  some  of  those  in  the  Philippine  Islands  as 
well,  where  American  citizenship  is  being  taught.  I  introduce  Con- 
gressman Miller. 

Representative  Clarence  B.  Miller,  from  the  State  of  Minnesota, 
delivered  a  most  inspiring  address,  accompanied  by  motion  pictures 
and  lantern  slides  showing  the  progress  of  citizenship  instruction 
in  the  Philippine  Islands  and  the  Territory  of  Hawaii.  This  lecture 
was  the  result  of  the  personal  contact  of  Representative  Miller  with 
the  Philippine  governmental  activities  in  tours  of  investigation  made 
by  him. 

He  showed  the  native  Filipinos  befo're  they  had  come  under  the 
influences  of  the  public-school  system  of  the  islands  and  in  native 
barbaric  surroundings.  He  also  depicted  them  in  the  various  classes, 
performing  their  class  work,  and  brought  to  the  vision  of  the  dele- 
gates to  the  convention  the  graduation  exercises  of  hundreds  of 
young  men  and  young  women.  Among  these  graduates  was  the  son 
of  Gen.  Emilio  Aguinaldo.  Representative  Miller  was  portrayed 
with  Aguinaldo  upon  the  occasion  when  the  son  of  this  celebrated 


22  PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST   CITIZENSHIP   CONVENTION. 

Filipino  received  his  diploma  on  his  graduation  from  the  public 
schools  of  the  Philippine  Islands. 

All  of  this  native  life  of  the  Filipinos  was  graphically  illustrated 
by  thousands  of  feet  of  motion-picture  film. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  This  last  talk,  illustrated  by  the  films  and 
slides,  terminates  the  session  for  the  day,  and  I  feel  that  we  are  all 
deeply  grateful  to  those  who  have  so  delightfully  entertained  us 
this  morning.  We  have  here  the  programs,  and  they  will  be  dis- 
tributed now,  and  in  addition  to  the  programs  our  plans  for  the 
sight-seeing  trips  in  the  afternoons.  The  programs  contain  the  pro- 
cedure for  each  day,  and  what  we  have  had  to-day  we  will  be  able 
to.  enjoy  again  in  a  different  form  each  day  as  they  come.  To-day 
is  a  very  unfortunate  day  for  sight-seeing,  but  arrangements  have 
been  made  to  visit  the  public  buildings,  the  Treasury,  White  House, 
State,  War,  and  Navy  Building — all  of  that  group  down  to  the  Pan 
American  Building — and  over  to  the  Museum,  Capitol,  and  Library. 
Especially  arranged  prices  have  been  perfected  ith  the  auto  sight- 
seeing companies  of  the  city,  and  a  representative  will  be  found  daily 
at  the  door,  so  that  arrangements  can  be  made  by  you  with  him. 

I  would  like  to  have  each  one  register  before  leaving  the  building, 
so  that  we  may  be  able  to  have  you  on  our  list  for  mailing  to  you 
the  proceedings  of  these  sessions  and  other  literature  that  we  wish 
you  to  have  from  time  to  time  from  the  Bureau  of  Naturalization  as 
this  work  develops. 

If  there  are  any  questions  that  you  would  like  to  ask,  I  shall  be 
glad  to  answer  them,  if  possible;  otherwise  the  session  adjourns.  We 
will  meet  to-morrow  morning  at  this  same  place  at  10  o'clock.  The 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  will  give  us  a  very  interesting  discussion  of 
what  the  Navy  Department  is  doing  in  the  education  of  citizens  on 
board  the  vessels  at  sea  and  in  the  naval  stations  in  various  parts  of 
the  country.  What  the  Army  has  been  doing  in  cooperation  with 
the  Bureau  of  Naturalization  in  teaching  citizenship  will  also  be 
shown  by  Lieut.  Steever,  of  the  United  States  Army,  who  especially 
represents  Secretary  Baker  and  the  War  Department.  Samuel 
Gompers,  president  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  also  will 
present  the  viewpoint  of  organized  labor  and  its  relation  to  citizen- 
ship and  this  educational  work.  The  motion  pictures  to-morrow 
will  show  what  has  been  done  in  community  center  development  in 
Dayton,  Ohio,  and  represent  the  National  Cash  Register  Co.  in  its 
work  for  the  betterment  of  its  employees  and  the  public  generally. 
Mr.  Freeman,  superintendent  of  schools  at  Grand  Rapids,  Minn., 
will  tell  the  story  of  rural  night  schools  for  foreigners  in  northern 
Minnesota.  The  address  showing  the  "Method  of  reaching  and 
teaching  illiterates  in  Kentucky,"  by  Mrs.  Cora  Wilson  Stewart, 


PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST   CITIZENSHIP   CONVENTION.  23 

president  of  the  Kentucky  Illiteracy  Commission,  will  be  given 
to-morrow  instead  of  Wednesday,  as  we  find  that  arrangements  have 
been  made  by  Mrs.  Stewart  which  will  take  her  away  from  here  on 
Wednesday.  Prof.  Claxton,  of  the  Bureau  of  Education,  will  ter- 
minate the  session  to-morrow  with  his  very  delightful  talk,  "  Prepa- 
ration for  American  citizenship  and  life."  I  thank  you  all  in  behalf 
of  the  Bureau  of  Naturalization,  both  you  and  the  schools  which  you 
represent,  for  your  attendance  and  appreciative  attention. 


TUESDAY,  JULY  11. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  The  second  session  of  this  citizenship  conven- 
tion will  now  come  to  order.  I  have  great  pleasure  in  presenting 
to  you  as  the  first  speaker,  the  Hon.  Josephus  Daniels,  Secretary  of 
the  Navy. 

ADDRESS  OF  SECRETARY  DANIELS. 

Mr.  CHAIRMAN,  LADIES,  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  I  presume  I  am  indebted 
for  the  honor  of  being  invited  to  say  a  few  words  this  morning  to  this 
volunteer  band  of  patriots  to  the  fact  that  I  am  for  the  time  being 
president  of  the  biggest  educational  institution  in  America,  the 
United  States  Navy.  We  have  long  learned  in  the  Navy  that  train- 
ing and  education  are  essential  in  every  grade  and  every  rank.  No 
man  rises  in  the  Navy  except  through  the  schools.  No  man  is  pro- 
moted who  has  not  been  sifted  by  half  a  dozen  or  more  examinations, 
and  the  newly  enlisted  man  on  the  battleship  is  taught  geography 
and  arithmetic  as  well  as  machinery,  engineering,  radio,  and  other 
technical  subjects.  Naturally,  therefore,  I  am  greatly  interested  in 
the  work  you  ladies  and  gentlemen  are  doing,  which  to  my  mind 
should  appeal  to  every  American  citizen.  Those  of  us  who  are  not 
fible  to  give  ourselves  actively  to  the  work,  as  you  are,  owe  you  a  debt 
of  gratitude  and  thanks,  because  you  are  opening  the  doors  of  citi- 
zenship into  a  new  world  to  the  immigrant  who  comes  among  us 
and  are  teaching  him  that  citizenship  is  more  than  a  right,  that  it  is 
a  duty,  it  is  a  privilege;  and  to  enter  upon  this  priceless  privilege 
he  must  be  fitted  for  it  if  our  great  Republic  is  to  measure  up  to  the 
ideals  of  its  founders.  American  citizenship  is  something  to  be 
prized.  In  the  old  world  a  man  who  could  say  "I  am  a  Roman 
citizen  "  had  a  nobility  greater  than  could  be  conferred  by  kings, 
and  the  great  apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  who  never  gloried  in  the  things 
of  earth,  was  carried  away  only  once  in  his  whole  life  by  rejoicing 
in  worldly  honor  when  he  said,  "  I  am  a  Roman  citizen  " ;  and  when  a 
Roman  centurion  declared  that  with  a  great  price  purchased  he  this 
boon,  Paul  replied :  "  But  I  was  freeborn."  Now,  if  this  great 
apostle  could  have  this  feeling  when  he  was  a  citizen  of  Rome,  when, 
as  contrasted  with  American  citizenship,  he  was  a  subject,  how 
much  more  should  we  be  lifted  up  when  we  remember  that  we  are 
citizens  of  the  first,  the  greatest  country  in  the  worldj  where  govern- 
ment rests  upon  the  consent  of  the  governed. 

When  our  forefathers  came  to  Philadelphia  to  draft  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  and  Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  the  indictment  against 
King  George,  you  will  recall  that  one  of  the  specifications  said 
that  the  King  had  endeavored  to  prevent  the  population  of  the 
24 


PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST   CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION.  25 

colonies  by  not  giving  them  broad  and  liberal  naturalization  laws  and 
not  enforcing  those  on  the  books.  So  that  in  the  very  beginning  of 
our  history  we  went  to  war  for  the  privilege  and  right  of  opening 
our  doors  to  the  fit  and  worthy  who  longed  for  liberty,  for  a  place 
in  the  sun,  and  when  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  wrote  that  great 
document  they  gave  to  Congress  the  power  and  right  to  make  natu- 
ralization lawrs  for  the  whole  Republic. 

It  is  one  of  the  saddest  things  in  our  history  that  within  a  few 
years  after  this  Republic  had  gone  to  war  for  broad  naturalization 
laws  and  the  right  to  populate  this  country  from  the  best  classes  across 
the  seas  our  own  Congress  assembled  and  passed  the  alien  and  sedi- 
tion laws,  which  denied  the  right  of  foreigners  to  share  the  privileges 
of  American  citizenship  until  they  had  been  here  for  14  years  and 
put  upon  them  such  restrictions  as  to  free  speech  and  a  free  press  that 
the  people  called  upon  Congress  to  repeal  these  unjust  laws  and 
make  it  forever  a  crime  to  limit  or  close  the  doors  of  hope  and  oppor- 
tunity to  men  who  love  liberty.  This  was  done,  and  ever  since  the 
immigrant  has  shared  with  us  our  birthright.  It  has  never  since  been 
possible  that  any  administration,  for  partisan  purposes,  could  place 
restriction  upon  free  speech  and  a  free  press. 

These  are  our  heritages.  There  have  come  to  these  shores  thou- 
sands and  millions  out  of  every  stock  in  Europe,  attracted  by  the 
dormant  love  of  liberty  that  lies  in  the  heart  of  every  man.  They 
have  come  here  to  join  with  the  native  born  to  make  this  Republic 
the  ideal  place  where  the  consent  of  the  governed  should  dominate, 
and  you  know  and  all  of  us  realize,  perhaps  as  never  before,  that 
whether  this  Government  shall  measure  up  to  its  ideals  depends  upon 
how  well  those  who  are  to  share  in  citizenship  are  trained  in  the  doc- 
trine of  American  Government.  There  is  no  real  government  except 
that  based  upon  consent,  but  we  must  realize  that  the  day  of  indiffer- 
ence to  national  ideals  is  past.  The  day  when  we  open  our  doors  to 
citizenship  without  instruction,  without  training,  without  guidance, 
is  ended.  With  the  welcome  of  open  doors  to  200,000  aliens  yearly 
must  be  extended  the  hand  of  help.  And  this  is  not  only  for  the  im- 
migrants' own  sake,  but  also  because  we  owe  a  duty  higher  and  greater 
to  our  institutions  and  to  our  Government.  No  government  is  better 
than  the  average  of  intelligence  and  patriotism  of  all  its  people.  We 
will  recall  that  truth  when  we  rail  against  government.  It  is  in  the 
long  run  the  average  of  the  intelligence,  the  patriotism,  and  the  aspi- 
rations of  all  its  people,  and  in  this  great  American  Republic  of  ours 
if  we  pour  into  the  melting  pot  the  ignorance,  vice,  lack  of  knowl- 
edge, selfishness,  sectionalism,  indeed  any  isms  that  are  contrary  to 
the  ideals  of  the  founders  of  our  Republic,  we  can  not  have  a  Repub- 
lic that  shall  be  such  as  Washington  and  Jefferson  and  Adams 
founded.  I  have  sometimes  wondered  what  must  be  the  feeling  of 
an  ambitious  young  European  who  has  his  soul  stirred  by  reading 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  life  of  Washington,  and  the 
life  of  Lincoln,  and  the  patriotic  speeches  and  biographies  of  our 
great  men  when  he  first  lands  on  these  shores  and  beholds,  as  he  does 
sometimes,  the  indifference  of  some  of  us  whose  birthright  is  Ameri- 
can citizenship.  He  must  wonder  whether  this  generation  has  proven 
unworthy  of  its  fathers,  when  he  sees  in  a  great  election — as  hap- 
pened not  long  since  in  one  of  the  foremost  American  States — that 


26  PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST   CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

only  48  per  cent  of  the  people  qualified  to  vote  cared  enough  about 
government  to  go  to  the  polls. 

We  have  something  to  learn  from  these  Old  World  enthusiasts, 
newly  arrived  on  our  shores,  in  the  love  of  liberty  and  the  quest  of  it. 
Full  of  zeal  and  ardor  they  come  to  us  to  take  us  back  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  fathers ;  and  as  we  get  this  new  fire  from  patriots  newly 
arrived,  suffering  from  being  subjects  and  longing  to  be  equals,  we 
must  remember  that  we  owe  them  a  high  duty.  Ours  is  a  great  re- 
sponsibility. We  have  no  right  to  invite  a  man  to  our  house  and  not 
treat  him  with  courtesy  and  give  him  a  hospitable  welcome.  So  when 
we  invite  these  men  from  abroad  and  they  come  to  us  without  edu- 
cation and  without  knowledge  of  American  ideals  or  American  Gov- 
ernment, their  backs  bent  after  centuries  of  subjection,  some  of  them 
coming  from  countries  where  the  theory  is  that  the  mass  of  men  are 
born  to  work  for  others,  where  a  few  men  are  born  booted  and 
spurred  to  ride  on  the  backs  of  others,  we  must  remember  that  we 
owe  them  a  debt.  When  they  come  to  us  what  shall  we  do?  Shall 
we  let  them  go  adrift,  learning  only  as  they  may  pick  up  a  smatter- 
ing of  our  system  of  government,  or  shall  we  give  them  a  welcome 
into  schools,  into  clubs,  into  homes,  into  organizations  which  shall 
fit  them  for  this  great  task  and  duty  and  privilege  of  American  citi- 
zenship. I  have  sometimes  thought  that  new-coming  immigrants  are 
received  with  coldness  and  with  indifference,  after  responding  to  our 
invitation  to  all  who  love  liberty,  who  wish  a  fair  chance,  and  have 
in  their  hearts  the  principles  of  freedom  and  liberty.  I  have  some- 
times thought  that  we  do  not  show  them  that  high  type  of  unselfish 
citizenship  which  they  were  led  to  believe  they  would  find  here,  and 
they  must  have  wondered  to  discover  that  they  had  in  themselves  a 
spirit  of  love  of  country  and  liberty  and  justice  which  they  did  not 
find  among  us.  I  have  thought  they  must  have  felt  like  a  little 
adopted  girl  playing  during  the  recess  of  school  with  a  girl  of  her 
own  age  whose  real  mother  loved  her  dearly.  This  girl  who  was  the 
natural  daughter  said  to  the  adopted  girl : 

"  You  are  not  your  mother's  own  child,  you  are  adopted,  and  she 
does  not  love  you  like  my  mother  loves  me." 

"  Oh,  yes,  she  does,"  was  the  reply ;  "  my  mother  chose  me,  and 
she  chose  me  after  she  knew  me,  and  yours  didn't." 

Those  who  came  among  us  chose  us  after  sampling  our  type  of 
government  and  liberty,  whereas  those  among  us  born  here  often 
forget  our  priceless  heritage.  When  it  comes  to  our  responsibilities 
and  duties,  how  many  of  us  feel  that  with  rights  go  duties  and  that 
with  privileges  go  responsibilities? 

It  is  because  you,  in  this  unselfish  work,  are  setting  us  an  example 
of  our  duty  and  leading  us  that  we  welcome  you.  I  envy  you  the 
reward  that  shall  come  not  to-day  but  through  all  the  years  from 
every  citizen  whose  path  you  have  guided,  because  there  is  no  com- 
pensation so  great  as  that  which  comes  to  a  teacher  who  has  led  a 
man  out  of  darkness  into  light.  Our  schoolhouses  are  the  only  insti- 
tutions we  have  that  do  business  only  three-fourths  of  the  year. 
There  is  no  business  house  in  the  country  that  could  live  if  closed 
one-fourth  of  the  time.  We  are  learning  that  the  schoolhouse  must 
be  the  social  center,  the  clearing  house,  and  if  we  want  to  find  the 
best  type  of  American  citizen  we  find  it  in  those  brought  up  in  the 
history  of  American  independence  in  our  American  schools. 


PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION.  27 

I  am  happy  to  have  in  some  way  been  associated  with  a  period  in 
our  national  history  when  this  new  idea  of  using  schoolhouses  for 
the  instruction  of  immigrants  has  been  adopted  and  put  into  prac- 
tice. You  are  the  pioneers  of  a  great  work.  It  must  spread  and  grow 
in  every  community,  and  it  must  be  done,  not  only  for  the  good  of 
the  man  coming  among  us  but  for  our  own  good,  because  unless  we 
lift  up  the  less  fortunate  in  education  they  will  draw  us  down. 
There  was  a  time  when  some  men  believed  that  education  for  their 
own  children  gave  them  a  power  greater  if  all  others  were  un- 
educated. They  built  up  and  maintained  splendid  schools  for  their 
own  sons  and  daughters,  forgetting  that  unless  they  educated  the 
sons  and  daughters  of  all  men  their  own  children  lacked  the 
highest  chance  of  attainment.  So  we  must  educate  everybody.  We 
are  taught  the  lesson  that  universal  education  must  precede  universal 
efficiency.  It  is  a  rule  of  life,  and  you,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  are 
practicing  that.  If  there  is  a  man  or  woman  in  America  to-day 
with  divided  allegiance  to  our  flag  he  is,  unless  he  commits  some 
overt  act,  a  standing  monument  to  American  kindness;  but  if  men 
shall  grow  to  old  or  middle  age  in  the  future  lacking  total  and  per- 
fect surrender  of  love  to  America,  it  will  be  because  we  have  not 
done  our  duty  to  the  newly  arrived  immigrant. 

Perhaps  few  native-born  citizens  have  read  the  oath  that  these 
immigrants  take  when  they  come  to  America.  I  do  not  think  in  all 
literature  so  much  has  been  put  in  a  few  words.  We  not  only  say 
to  a  man,  "  You  must  renounce  the  country  from  which  you  come," 
but  we  require  him  to  renounce  by  name  the  king,  or  czar,  or  poten- 
tate under  whom  he  has  hitherto  lived.  Immigrants  must  renounce 
any  title  of  nobility  and  must  swear  to  support  American  institu- 
tions against  those  of  any  other  country,  and  when  they  take  this 
oath  freely  and  gladly  and  come  with  us  we  who  were  born  here 
should  take  it  ourselves  and  receive  a  new  birth  of  patriotism.  We 
must  hold  up  the  standard  of  undivided  allegiance,  of  perfect  neu- 
trality, so  that  we  may  love  America  first  and  last ;  that  love  must  be 
all  in  all,  and  we  must  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  our  immi- 
grants in  the  support  of  those  principles  that  have  made  America 
ever  the  haven  of  the  oppressed.  We  must  make  it  stand  as  a  nation 
like  the  Statue  of  Liberty  on  Bedloe  Island,  which  beckons  to  all 
who  long  for  liberty  and  who  come  to  these  shores  to  share  with  us 
the  blessings  of  a  free  and  independent  Government  whose  flag 
floats  for  liberty  and  equality.  I  thank  you  for  the  work  you  are 
doing.  Your  numbers  will  multiply,  and  those  of  us  who  may  not 
share  with  you  the  burdens  and  toils  of  this  great  work  you  are  doing 
will  follow  you  with  our  gratitude  and  our  prayers. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  This  is  one  of  the  many  treats  that  we  have 
been  having.  We  realize  that  words  coming  from  such  a  source  have 
a  far-reaching  effect  upon  all  those  who  may  hear  them,  and  they  are 
encouraging  to  all  who  are  engaged  in  this  work.  Our  work  stands 
for  the  betterment  of  those  who  are  down  and  out.  It  stands  to  give 
them  an  opportunity  to  take  hold  of  life  on  the  upper  path.  It  is  to 
take  them  from  beneath  and  give  them  an  opportunity  to  come  out  on 
top. 


28  PEOCEEDINGS  OF   FIRST   CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

The  majority  of  our  people  who  are  petitioners  for  naturalization 
and  who  are  admitted  to  citizenship  come  from  the  wage-earning 
members  of  our  society,  and  it  is  most  appropriate  and  fitting  that 
we  are  to  be  privileged  this  morning  to  hear  the  Hon.  Samuel 
Gompers,  president  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor.  [Ap- 
plause.] 

ADDRESS    OF    SAMUEL    GOMPERS,    PRESIDENT    AMERICAN 
FEDERATION  OF  LABOR. 

Mr.  CHAIRMAN,  LADIES,  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  When  the  gentleman  in 
charge  of  this  movement  came  to  see  me  in  regard  to  whatever  co- 
operation I  could  give,  without  any  hesitancy  I  answered  that  not 
only  I,  but  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  would  be  very  glad 
to  contribute  to  the  effort,  and  to  cooperate  with  the  purpose  of  this 
propaganda,  that  the  work  might  be  carried  to  a  successful  issue. 
I  know  of  no  more  important  function  that  the  Naturalization  Bu- 
reau of  the  Department  of  Labor  could  render  than  the  education 
and  the  Americanization  of  the  men  and  the  women  who  come  from 
foreign  shores. 

More  than  likely,  having  listened  to  what  the  honorable  Mr.  Dan- 
iels, Secretary  of  the  Navy,  has  said  on  this  subject,  I  could  close  here 
and  simply  say  "  Amen  "  to  all  that  he  has  said  and  urged.  I  take 
it,  however,  that  you  would  not  permit  me  so  easily  to  get  away  from 
the  task  assigned  to  me  this  morning.  As  the  chairman  of  this  meet- 
ing has  said,  I  speak  with  some  degree  of  authority  for  the  wage 
earners  of  this  country,  and  inferentially  and  rightfully  in  the  in- 
terest of  the  wage  earners  of  other  countries;  but  I  want  to  empha- 
size the  fact  that  my  chief  concern  is  with  the  wage  earners,  the  peo- 
ple, and  the  institutions  of  our  own  country.  I,  too.  believe  that 
there  is  still  too  much  lacking  in  the  genuine  interest  which  the 
American  citizenship  displays  in  the  affairs  and  in  the  welfare  and 
the  protection  for  the  future  of  this  American  Republic. 

Perhaps  there  may  be  found  a  cause  for  this,  less  than  48  per  cent 
of  a  given  State  having  participated  in  the  great  election  within  that 
State.  The  facts  are,  men  and  women,  that  we  seldom  have  much 
interest  in  a  thing  which  is  given  to  us  freely.  In  a  thing  to  which 
we  have  given  no  effort  in  securing  we  seem  only  to  have  a  passing 
interest,  if  interest  at  all,  and  that  is  true  in  the  fundamental  princi- 
ples of  liberty  and  freedom.  The  struggles  to  establish  these  princi- 
ples were  made  by  the  men  of  over  a  century  ago,  and  renewed  in 
1812  and  in  1861  to  1865,  and  then  called  into  existence  in  1898,  but 
we  have  gone  along  so  swimmingly  we  have  seemed  to  take  things  as 
though  they  are  our  birthright.  There  are  so  few  that  understand 
that  eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty,  and  that  that  phrase, 
coined  over  a  century  ago,  is  as  true  now  as  it  was  then.  [Applause^] 

It  is  true  that  men  have  come  to  our  shores,  have  come  with  their 
hearts  yearning  for  light,  life,  opportunity,  and  liberty.  For  these 
there  need  be  but  little  concern  as  to  their  loyalty  to  America,  but 
there  is  another  feature — not  those  who  come  to  the  United  States 
to  seek  liberty  and  opportunity  and  freedom  and  justice,  but  there 
are  many  who  have  been  brought  to  our  shores  even  against  their  own 
will — lured  here,  coaxed  here,  bribed  to  come  here,  fooled  to  come 


PKOCEEDINGS  OF  FIRST  CITIZENSHIP   CONVENTION.  29 

here,  and  when  here  found  and  still  find  themselves  in  a  condition 
of  industrial  servitude  to  which  they  were  almost  strangers  in  their 
own  countries.  Men  have  been  brought  here  under  a  guile,  and  a 
channel  has  been  constantly  kept  open  by  which  thousands  and  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  were  brought  here,  and  then  employed  under  such 
conditions,  not  seeing  a  dollar  of  American  money,  compelled  to 
work  long  hours,  compelled  to  make  their  purchases  in  the  company 
stores.  Without  a  penny  in  their  pockets  or  to  their  names  they 
were  as  much  tied  to  the  soil,  without  ability  to  leave  it,  as  were  the 
serfs  of  old. 

You  can  not  expect  to  instill  ideals  and  sentiments  of  patriotism 
and  love  for  the  flag  of  the  United  States  when  such  conditions  are 
imposed  upon  large  masses  of  people.  And  I  may  say  that  I  know 
of  no  agency  in  all  our  country  which  has  been  such  a  potential 
influence  to  preach  the  gospel  of  American  justice,  of  American 
patriotism,  and  of  American  brotherhood  as  the  much  misunderstood 
and  misrepresented  organized  labor  movement.  It  is  the  organizers, 
the  labor  organizers,  the  labor  agitators,  if  you  please,  who  went 
broadcast  throughout  the  country  to  preach  the  gospel  to  these  men 
of  foreign  birth  who  had  been  brought  here  for  private  exploitation 
and  profit,  to  bring  the  message  to  them  that  in  the  United  States 
they  can  find  the  land  of  opportunity,  that  freedom  is  not  inherent, 
but  that  the  opportunity  for  freedom  is  given  them;  and  to  enjoy 
freedom  it  is  necessary  for  men  to  exercise  the  functions  of  freedom, 
and  that  their  only  hope  was  to  unite,  to  federate,  to  pool  their  issues 
and  interests  in  order  that  they  may  regain  some  of  the  economic  op- 

gortunities  and  political  rights  of  which  they  were  deprived  in  the 
rst  contract,  written  or  implied,  by  which  they  were  lured  into  our 
country.     And  I  may  say  this,  that  much  has  been  accomplished 
already  in  that  direction. 

Men  who  work  12  hours  a  day  7  days  in  a  week  can  not  understand 
there  is  such  a  thing  as  liberty  and  justice  in  a  country  in  which 
these  injustices  are  brought  upon  them.  We  have  secured,  largely,  at 
least,  one  day  of  rest  in  seven :  one  day  of  rest  is  at  least  oppor- 
tunity for  information  and  recuperation.  We  have  largely  secured 
a  reduction  in  the  hours  of  labor,  and  we  hope  that  the  scientific  and 
natural  division  of  a  day's  time  shall  be  an  accomplished  fact 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  our  country — eight  hours  for 
rest,  eight  hours  for  work,  and  eight  hours  for  recreation  and  re- 
cuperation should  be  the  universal  day  for  the  American  laborer. 
We  can  not  give  eight  hours  for  rest  and  eight  hours  for  recupera- 
tion without  at  least  giving  some  time  to  utilizing  a  part  of  that 
time  for  information,  for  understanding  and  for  absorbing  the 
fundamental  principles  of  justice  and  freedom  which  form  the  basis 
of  the  Republic  of  the  United  States.  That  is  part  of  the  contribu- 
tion which  the  organized  labor  movement  and  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor  have  made. 

A  few  years  ago,  or,  rather,  about  a  year  ago,  while  addressing  a 
public  meeting — it  was  perhaps  the  closing  benediction,  for  I  was 
presiding  at  the  time — I  called  attention  to  a  feature  I  want  to  re- 
peat here  now.  We  are  making  a  mistake  unless  we  also  use  our 
efforts  to  have  our  foreign-speaking  peoples  enter  into  the  very  life 
work  of  our  municipalities  and  of  our  States  and  of  our  country. 


30  PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST   CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

Colonies  usually  mean  the  domination  of  a  few  peoples  from  a  cer- 
tain country  forming  a  colony  in  a  certain  district  of  that  other 
country  and  have  really  no  purpose  other  than  sociability  and  a  bet- 
ter understanding  and  a  ready  yielding  to  the  constituted  authority  of 
the  country.  In  the  United  States  it  means  entirely  something  else. 
Here  we  have  a  great  mass  of  peoples  coming  from  the  shores  of 
every  country  on  the  face  of  the  globe,  who  form  colonies  in  every  city 
and  town  of  these  United  States,  colonies  of  the  peoples  of  their 
respective  countries — hotbeds  of  disintegration  and  disloyalty.  I 
hold  it  to  be  the  duty  of  every  agency  of  government  and  civic 
bodies  and  the  individual  citizens  to  help  in  the  movement  that  shall 
merge  the  people  coming  here  from  every  clime  into  one  great  whole, 
the  people,  the  citizenship  of  the  United  States  of  America.  [Ap- 
plause.] 

I  am  aware,  at  least  in  part,  of  the  splendid  work  you  already 
have  done  and  what  you  contemplate  doing  in  teaching  the  people  in 
the  United  States  of  foreign  birth  or,  if  necessary,  of  foreign  par- 
entage, so  that  they  may  have  the  opportunity  in  our  public  schools 
and  elsewhere  for  the  understanding  and  the  learning  of  the  lan- 
guage of  our  country  and  the  understanding  of  the  principles  upon 
which  our  Kepublic  is  founded,  and  thus  enable  the  idealism  of 
America's  purposes  and  impulses  to  penetrate  into  the  very  souls, 
the  hearts,  and  the  minds,  and  the  consciences  of  our  foreign- 
speaking  population. 

As  I  said  at  the  outset,  and  I  am  anxious  to  repeat  and  emphasize, 
your  work  has  the  entire  support  and  sympathy  and  will  be  given 
whatever  cooperation  that  can  be  given  in  furtherance  of  this  splen- 
did purpose.  I  may  say  to  you  that  the  labor  unions,  the  organiza- 
tions of  workers,  have  not  been  idle  for  lo !  these  many  years. 
Almost  from  the  time  when  workers  were  lured  over  here  to  take 
the  place  of  those  with  American  standards  of  life  we  have  been 
doing  our  share,  and  I  may  say  in  passing  that  we  have  been  ac- 
cused of  many  things.  I  shall  not  attempt  to  say  we  have  not  made 
mistakes.  I  know  that  we  are  human,  as  individuals  are  human, 
and  that  in  our  organization  and  aggregation  of  individuals  errors 
are  likely  to  occur;  but  let  me  say  to  you  and,  through  you,  to  all 
whom  it  may  concern  that  when  these  workers  have  been  brought 
into  the  United  States  to  take  the  places  of  American  workers,  with 
all  their  shortcomings,  with  all  their  ignorance,  with  all  their  preju- 
dices, if  they  were  good  enough  to  be  brought  here  for  private  profit 
they  are  good  enough  for  us  to  organize  and  to  try  to  make  better 
men  of  them. 

From  the  beginning  we  tried  to  establish,  as  I  believe  there  ought 
to  be,  some  better  limitation  and  regulation  of  immigration  to  our 
country.     I  am  not  one  of  those  who  would  close  the  gates  of  our/ 
country  to  those  who  really  want  to  come  here  and  can  be  assimilated* 
with  us  nor  to  those  who  are  brought  here  like  herds  of  cattle. 

The  movement  has  gone  on  to  try  to  educate  the  immigrant.  Let 
him  have  the  understanding  that  he  has  rights  in  addition  to  respon- 
sibilities; in  addition  to  duties  that  he  has  rights,  and  that  it  is  his 
duty  to  exercise  them  in  order  that  he  may  become  an  American 
citizen  worthy  of  that  name  and  worthy  of  the  standards  set  by 
American  citizenship.  So  we  have  our  organizers — men  who  can 
speak  many  languages.  There  are  some  of  the  organizers  of  the 


PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST   CITIZENSHIP   CONVENTION.  31 

American  Federation  of  Labor  who  could  have  disentangled  the 
polyglot,  which  prevailed  at  the  building  of  the  Tower  of  Babel.  We 
have  organizers  who  can  speak  8  or  10  languages  and  are  eloquent 
in  each  of  them.  Now  the  organizations  themselves  have  undertaken 
to  educate  the  foreign -speaking  workingmen,  members  of  their  re- 
spective trades.  A  document  dealing  with  the  most  recent  I  have 
brought  with  me,  and  in  passing  I  may  say  that  I  have  been  several 
days  away  from  Washington,  so  that  I  have  not  had  time  to  make 
a  search  for  material  that  would  be  of  a  most  convincing  character, 
though  I  trust  that  I  may  have  the  opportunity  of  furnishing  it  at 
a  later  time.  The  last  thing  that  came  to  my  notice  is  this  circular 
issued  by  District  No.  12  of  the  United  Mine  Workers  of  America, 
Mr.  Frank  Farrington,  president  of  the  Illinois  District  of  Coal 
Miners.  For  your  information  I  am  going  to  read  it. 

OFFICE  OF  THE  PBESIDENT, 
DISTRICT  No.  12,  UNITED  MINE  WORKEBS  OF  AMERICA, 

Springfield,  III.,  June  19,  1916. 
To  the  officers  and  members,  District  12,  United  Mine  Workers,  of  America — 

Greeting: 

The  National  Americanization  Committee  of  New  York  is  organizing  a  move- 
ment to  teach  the  English  language  to  and  to  Americanize  the  foreign  popula- 
tion of  our  country. 

This  association  has  in  prospect  the  establishment  of  a  number  of  kinder- 
garten and  night  schools  in  the-^iining  camps  of  this  State,  where  our  foreign 
members  and  their  children  and  dependents  will  be  taught  the  rudiments  of 
the  English  language,  free  of  charge. 

If  such  a  system  of  schools  were  established  they  would  no  doubt  be  the 
means  of  creating  a  better  understanding  as  to  the  purposes  of  our  movement 
and  the  ideals  of  our  country,  and  they  would  contribute  much  to  increase  the 
efficiency  of  our  union. 

Before  intelligent  action  can  be  taken  to  establish  a  movement  of  this  kind 
it  is  necessary  to  know  the  character  of  our  membership.  The  district  execu- 
tive board  has  instructed  me  to  have  a  census  taken  of  our  membership  so  as 
to  learn  the  percentage  of  non-English  speaking  members.  Therefore  I  request 
the  officers  of  each  local  union  to  send  me  a  statement  showing  the  number  of 
foreign-speaking  members  in  their  respective  local  unions. 

The  statement  should  give  the  aggregate  number  of  each  nationality  sepa- 
rately and  should  also  show  the  aggregate  number  of  children  related  to  each 
nationality. 

I  trust  the  local  officers  will  make  an  earnest  endeavor  to  secure  and  supply 
me  with  the  desired  information,  so  that  it  may  be  passed  on  to  the  National 
Americanization  Committee. 
Yours,  truly, 

(Signed)  F.  FARBINGTON,  President. 

This  in  an  indication  of  what  we  are  trying  to  do,  of  what  our  men 
in  the  labor  movement  are  doing.  I  do  not  know  that  it  is  necessary 
to  emphasize  or  to  repeat  a  declaration  of  absolute  loyalty  and  coop- 
eration with  your  movement  for  the  education  and  the  Americani- 
zation of  the  foreign-speaking  workers  in  the  United  States.  If 
you  have  any  time  or  opportunity,  do  not  fail  to  understand  that 
Americanization  of  some  of  our  so-called  Americans  is  also  necessary. 
For  your  meeting  and  for  the  work  in  hand  I  earnestly  hope  the 
greatest  success.  We  must  do  our  duty. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  When  this  cooperative  work  was  presented  to 
Mr.  Gompers  he  gave  his  unhesitating  and  unqualified  indorsement  to 
it,  pronouncing  this  work  as  fundamental  to  our  national  welfare.  He 


32  PROCEEDINGS   OF  FIRST   CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

has  given  us  a  message  from  one  whose  life  work  has  been  devoted  to 
the  betterment  of  mankind,  and  we  will  be  bound  to  carry  from  this 
meeting  the  inspiration  which  comes  from  one  who  devotes  himself 
without  reserve  to  a  great  cause. 

The  next  speaker  on  the  program  has  notified  us  of  his  inability  to 
be  present,  and  we  will  postpone  the  illustrated  lecture  until  the  last. 
The  next  speaker  on  the  program  is  the  Hon.  Philander  P.  Claxton, 
Commissioner  of  Education. 

Dr.  Philander  P.  Claxton,  Commissioner  of  Education  of  the  Bu- 
reau of  Education  of  the  Department  of  the  Interior,  favored  the 
convention  with  an  inspiring  address  under  the  subject, "  Preparation 
for  American  citizenship  and  life."  Dr.  Claxton  did  not  have  his 
address  in  manuscript  form,  and  the  bureau  has  been  unable  to  ob- 
tain from  him  a  copy  of  his  remarks  for  inclusion  in  the  proceedings. 
This  is  greatly  regretted,  as  the  contribution  of  Dr.  Claxton  was  very 
valuable. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  We  are  fortunate  in  having  with  us  Mrs.  Cora 
Wilson  Stewart,  president  of  the  Kentucky  Illiteracy  Commission, 
the  pioneer  in  one  of  the  greatest  undertakings  in  removing  illiteracy 
not  only  from  Kentucky  but  from  the  entire  United  States.  Mrs. 
Stewart  stands  for  all  that  is  meant  in  "Literacy  in  Kentucky  in 
1920,  with  illiteracy  eliminated  entirely."  What  one  earnest  patriotic 
American  woman  can  do  in  a  State  can  be  done  throughout  the  United 
States  by  the  same  consecrated  intelligent  effort.  The  story  of  the 
work  being  done  in  Rowan  County,  Ky.,  is  the  story  that  Mrs.  Stewart 
has  come  here  to  tell  us. 

Mrs.  Cora  Wilson  Stewart,  president  of  the  Kentucky  Illiteracy 
Commission,  gave  a  most  vivid  account  of  the  "  Methods  of  reaching 
and  teaching  illiterates  "  pursued  throughout  Kentucky  by  the  com- 
mission of  which  she  is  president.  It  is  regretted  that  illness  on  the 
part  of  Mrs.  Stewart  has  prevented  the  bureau  from  receiving  a 
transcript  of  her  remarks. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  Everyone  has  been  thrilled  with  the  graphic 
account  by  Mrs.  Stewart  of  this  great  uplift  work  which  she  has  been 
carrying  on. 

I  believe  this  last  valuable  contribution  concludes  the  program  for 
to-day,  and  I  hope  you  will  all  be  with  us  to-morrow,  as  we  have  a 
great  many  treats  in  store  for  us  at  that  session,  among  which  will 
be  an  informal  discussion  of  the  textbook  which  the  bureau  has  in 
course  of  preparation. 


WEDNESDAY,  JULY  12. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  The  meeting  will  come  to  order,  and  the  Chair 
desires  to  announce  that  the  change  in  the  program,  which  was  neces- 
sitated by  the  transfer  of  Mrs.  Cora  Wilson  Stewart  to  the  Tuesday 
session,  makes  the  first  speaker  to  address  the  convention  this  morn- 
ing the  Hon.  Albert  Johnson,  Representative  in  Congress,  upon  the 
subject  "  Outdoor  school  work  in  Tacoma,  Wash." 

Representative  Albert  Johnson,  of  the  State  of  Washington,  enter- 
tained the  delegates  and  visitors  with  a  motion-picture  display  which 
portrayed  the  schools  of  Tacoma,  Wash.,  the  wonderful  high-school 
stadium  in  that  city,  which  seats  40,000  persons,  and  then  took  his 
^audience  on  a  lively  and  refreshing  trip  into  Mount  Rainier  National 
Park,  conveying  them  to  the  wonderful  glaciers  which  have  their 
origin  high  on  the  slopes  of  Mount  Tacoma.  This  mountain  is  more 
than  14,000  feet  high,  and  the  views  of  it  from  sea  level  were  en- 
trancing and  inspiring.  Congressman  Johnson  carried  along  a  gos- 
sipy talk  in  connection  with  the  pictures  and  told  of  the  rapidly 
advancing  efforts  for  the  education  of  the  newly  arrived  citizens  of 
western  Washington.  Mr.  Johnson  is  a  member  of  the  House  Com- 
mittee on  Immigration  and  Naturalization  and  has  given  much  atten- 
tion to  these  subjects.  The  pictures  portrayed  a  thrilling  race  from 
Tacoma  to  the  Nisqually  Glacier  between  four  automobiles  and  a  train 
of  the  Chicago.  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul  system.  The  audience  became 
much  interested,  and  at  the  conclusion  of  the  exhibition  pronounced 
the  display  one  of  the  best  they  had  ever  seen. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  The  highly  instructive  lecture  and  motion  pic- 
tures of  Representative  Johnson  will  be  followed  by  a  special  pic- 
ture talk  which  has  been  called  for  by  a  large  number  of  those  in 
attendance  upon  the  convention.  Miss  M.  Beatrice  Johnstone,  of 
Grand  Forks,  N.  Dak.,  will  show  "Playday  of  the  public  schools  at 
Grand  Forks,"  which  was  given  by  her  at  the  National  Education 
Association  Convention  last  week  at  New  York. 

MISS  M.  BEATRICE  JOHNSTONE. 

I  fear  the  pictures  that  are  to  be  shown  will  stand  in  as  mournful 
contrast  with  the  pictures  just  shown  by  Congressman  Johnson  as 
does  the  one-room  rural  school  with  the  stadium  he  pictured  to  us; 
but  they  will  show  you  the  playday  we  have  in  our  county  each  May. 
These  pictures  were  taken  by  Roy  Corbett,  of  the  State  Agricultural 
College  at  Fargo,  N.  Dak, 

70552°— 17 3  33 


34  PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

Play  has  been  too  often  confounded  with  idleness  or  exercise,  yet 
we  know  it  is  synonymous  with  childhood.  Curtiss  says,  "Play  is 
the  deepest  expression  of  the  child's  soul  and  nature's  instrument  for 
fashioning  him  to  the  divine  plan."  "All  work  and  no  play  makes 
Jack  a  dull  boy  and  Jennie  a  stupid  girl."  Some  one  has  said, 
"Never  till  we  are  ready  to  graduate  from  the  university  of  life 
should  we  cease  to  regard  play  as  one  of  our  major  electives.  Play 
makes  the  child  into  a  man  and  keeps  the  man  a  child,  growing  and 
improving  all  his  life  long." 

In  accordance  with  the  above  conception,  playday  was  established 
in  Grand  Forks  County  in  May,  1915.  It  was  so  successful  in  reach- 
ing those  for  whom  it  was  planned  that  playday  has  become  a  per- 
manent institution  in  our  county.  Such  a  sight  it  was  to  see  people 
coming  from  all  over  the  county  on  this  bright  morning  in  autos,  in 
floats  for  the  parade,  on  horseback,  in  every  way.  It  was  a  day  for 
old  and  young.  Such  cooperation  between  country,  village,  and  city 
never  was  seen  before. 

There  were  sports,  folk  dances,  Maypole  dances,  athletics,  a  mon- 
strous parade,  dinner  out  of  doors,  kite  flying  with  kites  made  by  the 
children  themselves.  A  drill  prepared  by  Miss  Pike,  of  the  State 
university,  participated  in  by  all  the  pupils  of  the  county  and)  led 
by  the  Larimore  Band,  was  a  unique  and  significant  sight  and  e^em- 
plified  the  health  work  done  in  our  county,  which,  as  you  know,  has 
a  rural-school  nurse  working  the  year  round.  The  hot  rural  lunch 
was  represented  by  a  sign  in  the  parade,  and  public  health  with  a 
float,  as  was  the  Boys  and  Girls'  Club  work. 

Before  this  work  for  systematic  play  was  instituted  children  in 
the  country  schools  would  eat  their  lunches  and  sit  around  till  school 
called;  now  it  is  a  common  sight,  as  we  drive  up  to  the  schools,  to 
see  teacher  and  pupil  out  on  the  grounds  going  through  athletic 
stunts,  games,  and  folk  dances  together.  Oh,  the  joy  of  it !  It  makes 
life  worth  living.  But  what  has  this  to  do  with  this  citizenship 
convention?  Everything,  for  play,  like  music,  is  a  universal  lan- 
guage, and  foreign  children  learn  our  language  and  traditions 
through  play  almost  like  magic. 

I  thank  your  chairman  for  letting  me  tell  you  how  we  play  in 
North  Dakota  and  of  the  fun  we  have — both  old  and  young.  You 
will  now  see  the  pictures. 

The  discussion  of  the  text-book,  the  subject  matter  of  which  was 
submitted  to  the  Bureau  of  Naturalization  by  the  public  schools,  then 
ensued.  It  was  impossible  to  make  a  stenographic  report  of  this 
discussion,  in  which  the  majority  of  those  in  attendance  participated. 
The  expressions  on  the  part  of  all  showed  the  necessity  for  a  standard 
course  in  citizenship  instruction,  and  the  bureau  was  urged  to  pre- 
pare for  publication  the  subject  matter  received  by  it.  It  will  appear 
later  as  an  appendix  to  these  proceedings. 

The  chairman  announced  a  special  entertainment  for  the  delegates 
to  the  convention  by  the  Bureau  of  Standards  of  the  Department  of 
Commerce  from  7  to  9  o'clock  Wednesday  evening;  also,  one  by  the 
Naval  Observatory  to  view  the  heavens  on  Thursday  at  the  same 
hours. 


THURSDAY,  JULY  13. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  The  session  will  come  to  order  and  the  chair- 
man will  announce  an  address  by  Mr.  J.  M.  Berkey,  director  of  spe- 
cial schools  and  extension  work  of  the  public  schools  of  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa. 

ADDRESS  OF  J.  M.  BERKEY. 

Americanization  has  taken  on  a  new  and  vitalized  meaning  to  all 
who  have  sworn  to  defend  the  Nation  and  the  flag.  It  means  infi- 
nitely more  than  the  legal  process  of  naturalization.  It  means  more 
than  a  knowledge  of  English  and  citizenship  for  the  new  Americans. 
It  looks  not  merely  to  a  land  of  plenty,  a  home  of  comfort,  or  a  peace 
at  any  price;  but  it  embodies  rather  a  whole-hearted  and  warm- 
hearted devotion  to  American  ideals  of  liberty,  justice,  and  patriotic 
service.  Americanization,  moreover,  means  the  making  of  loyal  and 
worthy  citizens  of  the  native  as  wTell  as  the  foreign-born  residents. 
The  undesirable  or  un-American  citizen  may  never  have  served  a 
foreign  potentate  or  lived  anywhere  else  than  under  the  American 
flag,  and  yet  he  may  need  Americanization  far  more  than  the  man 
wTho  comes  to  us  with  a  foreign  name  and  a  foreign  tongue,  but  whose 
heart  is  full  of  the  spirit  of  American  democracy.  The  latter  needs, 
and  as  a  rule  wants  and  appreciates,  every  effort  to  make  him  an 
American  in  civic  relations  and  in  standards  of  living ;  but  the  illiter- 
ate, selfish,  or  unpatriotic  son  of  the  soil  is  a  constant  menace  to  the 
Nation,  and,  man  for  man,  a  more  serious  liability  to  any  community 
than  the  new  American  of  alien  birth. 

Americanization,  therefore,  has  to  do  with  all  who  need  to  learn 
their  individual  relation  and  responsibility  to  the  Republic  of  which 
they  are  a  part  and  whose  honor  and  high  ideals  it  is  theirs  to  main- 
tain, and  this  applies  with  equal  force  to  the  untutored  native  or  to 
the  renegade  as  well  as  the  new  American. 

Preparedness  is  likewise  a  new  word — not  in  the  dictionary  but  in 
American  consciousness.  From  the  Halls  of  Congress,  the  training 
camp,  and  the  private  home  the  word  comes  with  starting  clearness 
and  ever-growing  intensity.  It  means  more  than  a  trained  Army 
and  an  efficient  Navy.  It  looks  over  and  beyond  the  military  front 
of  national  defense  into  the  industrial,  civic,  and  spiritual  life  of 
the  Nation. 

The  need  of  adequate  preparedness  has  taken  deep  hold  of 
America.  It  has  stirred  the  great  heart  of  the  common  people  as 
it  has  not  been  stirred  since  the  days  of  the  Civil  War.  Untold 
thousands  have  marched  through  the  streets  in  many  cities,  not  with 
any  specific  demand  for  action,  but  as  a  tangible  expression  of  deep 
and  universal  concern.  We  are  all  in  favor  of  preparedness,  al- 
though we  do  not  yet  know  what  it  is  or  what  it  shall  do  for  us. 

35 


36  PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

Common  convictions  have  not  yet  crystallized  into  definite  form,  not 
even  in  the  National  Congress.  But  the  people  of  the  United  States 
are  giving  most  emphatic  notice  to  those  who  are  chosen  to  lead 
and  represent  them  that  they  want  something  done,  and  that  some- 
thing to  be  the  best  that  American  statesmanship  can  devise. 

CITIES  FIRST  IN  NATIONAL  INTEREST. 

The  cities  of  America  have  been  first  to  catch  and  reflect  the  na- 
tional unrest.  The  civic  palse  has  been  quickened  because  of  the 
feverish  consciousness  of  inherent  and  unhealthy  conditions.  The 
city,  moreover,  is  the  product  of  its  own  accretions  in  population 
and  civic  ideals.  In  government,  vision,  and  spirit  of  progress  the 
city  is  largely  what  the  people  themselves  want  it  to  be  under  ac- 
cepted leadership.  But  the  want  to  be  is  a  matter  of  development, 
of  training  in  moral  and  social  standards  and  in  the  higher  ideals  of 
civic  life. 

Civic  preparedness  for  a  larger  and  a  better  future  is  therefore  a 
matter  of  education  in  citizenship,  an  education  broad  enough  and 
practical  enough  and  vital  enough  to  reach  all  the  people  all  the 
time.  And  while  Americanization  includes  rural  as  well  as  urban 
districts,  I  shall  limit  this  discussion  to  city  conditions  and  needs, 
because  the  chief  problems  of  the  Nation  to-day  in  the  assimilation  of 
new  Americans  and  the  making  of  true  citizens  are  found  in  the 
great  centers  of  population  rather  than  in  the  rural  communities. 

But  who  are  the  people  that  constitute  the  typical  American  city  ? 
They  are  cosmopolitian,  not  merely  in  racial  instincts  and  social 
standards  but  in  national  attachments  and  prejudices  and  ideals. 
Most  of  them  are  aliens,  at  least  by  association  if  not  by  birth,  and 
un-American  by  training.  Many  of  them  have  become  residents 
through  the  city's  industrial  demands  and  remain  only  so  long  as 
the  community  affords  them  a  living  wage.  Their  homes  are  merely 
a  temporary  camping  ground  to  be  shifted  whenever  industrial  con- 
ditions seem  to  point  to  some  other  reservation  as  more  desirable. 
They  are  indeed  the  hewers  of  wood  and  the  drawers  of  water  for 
the  industrial  city,  but  it  is  the  job  and  the  paymaster,  and  not  the 
interests  or  the  future  life  of  the  community,  which  grip  and 
hold  them  as  a  part  of  the  city's  population. 

Civic  preparedness  aims  to  conserve  the  human  resources  of  its 
people,  of  all  its  people,  and  to  mobilize  these  resources  for  human 
progress  and  national  betterment.  Civic  preparedness  will  teach 
the  people  to  live,  not  merely  for  themselves,  not  alone  for  dollars 
or  bread,  but  for  the  soul  of  humanity.  It  will  safeguard  the  city's 
future  by  making  the  strangers  within  its  gates  and  the  workers  in 
its  employ  contented,  happy,  and  loyal  citizens;  and  then  it  must  fol- 
low as  the  night  the  day  these  city  residents  will  also  be  loyal  Ameri- 
cans regardless  of  "  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of  servitude." 

Organized  and  effective  Americanization,  therefore,  should  be  the 
slogan  of  every  city  in  this  country  that  has  faith  in  its  own  future, 
that  seeks  to  lay  broad  and  deep  the  foundations  of  true  civic  ideals, 
and  that  aims  to  contribute  its  full  share  to  the  building  of  a  great 
Nation.  What  shall  be  the  lines  of  progress  ? 

1.  The  city  must  provide  American  homes  for  all  its  residents. 


PROCEEDINGS  OP  FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION.  37 

Better  homes  for  better  citizens  is  the  principle  for  which  Jacob 
Riis  fought  and  wrought  so  effectively  in  New  York  City.  Clean 
and  wholesome  living  is  now  the  far  and  constant  call  from  civic  and 
charitable  organizations  everywhere.  Attractive  and  comfortable 
dwellings  are  being  built  by  many  industrial  corporations  as  an  essen- 
tial investment,  and  healthful  recreation  is  considered  quite  as  im- 
portant for  the  worker  as  machines  and  material  for  the  work.  Wise 
laws  have  curbed  the  grasping  and  heartless  landlords,  and  health 
authorities  have  brought  sunshine  and  renewed  hope  into  many 
hearts  and  homes  in  the  crowded  city. 

But  there  remains  yet  much  to  be  done.  Every  American  city  has 
sections  or  districts  of  which  it  is,  or  of  right  ought  to  be,  heartily 
ashamed — not  necessarily  because  the  English  language  is  not  gen- 
erally spoken  there,  but  because  unwholesome  and  un-American  con- 
ditions are  permitted  to  exist  and  overcrowding,  disease,  and  crime 
are  allowed  to  perpetuate  themselves.  There  are  yet  too  many  dis- 
tricts in  which  the  saloon  is  the  only  place  where  the  men  may  find 
cordial  companionship  and  the  doorstep  or  the  dusty  street  the  only 
place  where  the  children  may  play. 

Recently  we  asked  a  large  number  of  men  in  our  school  of  citizen- 
ship what  their  vocations  were  before  they  came  to  America,  and 
much  to  our  surprise  42  per  cent  of  them  said  they  came  direct  from 
farms.  In  Pittsburgh  they  live  on  some  crowded  street  or  dark 
alley,  with  never  a  tree  or  shrub  or  flower  to  recall  their  country 
home  or  to  keep  them  and  their  families  near  to  the  great  heart  of 
nature.  Why  did  not  each  of  these  men  select  a  home  with  a  big  yard 
and  a  garden,  or  why  did  they  not  go  direct  to  the  country  and  con- 
tinue to  be  farmers  ?  The  question  scarcely  needs  an  answer.  They 
came  to  America  with  little  money  and  with  no  alternative  but  to 
locate  in  the  city  which  offered  them  an  immediate  income  and  a 
bare  living  for  their  families  in  the  most  cramped  and  undesirable 
quarters.  These  immigrant  farmers  make  up  the  great  bulk  of  our 
unskilled  laborers,  and  because  they  receive  the  lowest  wage  and 
because  they  can  not  afford  better  homes  they  have  the  least  oppor- 
tunity to  become  Americanized  of  their  own  volition. 

It  should  be  remembered  also  that  the  menace  of  the  stuffy  tene- 
ment or  the  crowded  alley  is  the  utter  lack  of  wholesome  recreation 
during  the  hours  of  leisure.  This  is  what  the  rugged  Croatian  meant 
when  he  was  asked  at  the  close  of  one  of  our  evening  schools  what  he 
got  out  of  it.  Said  he : 

I  sorry  night  school  close.  When  there  no  school  I  stand  on  street  corner. 
I  a  bum.  The  fellows  come  long  and  say,  "Alex,  come  on  get  a  drink,"  and  we 
go  and  get  drunk.  Then  soon  we  got  no  money  in  our  pockets.  Then  man  he 
say,  "  Come  to  night  school,  Alex."  I  come  and  I  like  night  school.  This  lady 
[the  principal]  she  say  we  must  not  drink.  I  learn  something,  and  now  I  got 
money  in  my  pocket.  I  no  drink  no  more.  I  no  bum  now.  We  sure  must  come 
to  the  night  school  next  time. 

That  man  was  learning  more  than  English.  He  was  getting  higher 
ideals  through  a  faithful  teacher  in  the  evening  school,  and  by  and 
by  the  money  which  he  said  stays  in  his  pocket  will  go  toward  getting 
him  a  better  home  and  a  better  job  and  making  him  a  better  citizen. 
But  some  one  must  help  him  to  these  things. 

A  year  ago  the  Pittsburgh  Board  of  Education  erected  in  one  of 
the  poorest  and  most  crowded  sections  of  the  city  a  fine  school  build 


38  PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

ing,  designed  and  equipped  for  1,200  pupils  under  the  Pittsburgh 
platoon  system,  a  modified  Gary  plan.  This  building  is  in  the  midst 
of  a  foreign-born  population,  80  per  cent  of  which  is  made  up  of 
Russian  Jews.  The  school  building  is  admirably  adapted  to  social- 
center  and  evening-school  activities  and  will  be  so  used  next  season. 

The  influence  of  this  movement  on  the  part  of  the  board  of  educa- 
tion is  most  significant,  however,  in  the  fact  that  since  this  modern 
school  plant  was  established  a  number  of  wealthy  capitalists  have 
decided  to  build  200  small,  model  homes  which  will  be  in  harmony 
with  the  new  school  in  health,  comfort,  and  attractive  environment, 
and  which  will  take  the  place  of  the  unsightly  and  insanitary  houses 
which  now  cover  a  large  part  of  that  district.  The  better  dwellings 
were  decided  upon,  however,  because  the  school  was  there  first,  and 
the  influence  of  such  a  school  building  would  make  for  a  better  class 
of  tenants.  With  the  investors  in  these  homes  it  is  a  commercial 
enterprise  as  well  as  an  expression  of  public  spirit. 

While,  therefore,  the  city,  the  corporation,  or  the  private  philan- 
thropist may  do  much  for  better  homes  for  the  new  Americans,  the 
initiative  for  better  living  conditions  may  very  properly  come  from 
municipal  and  school  authorities  and  the  inspiration  for  higher  ideals 
in  thought  and  purpose  and  life  may  still  be  the  work  of  the  faithful 
teacher. 

2.  Civic  preparedness  calls  for  a  public-school  system  which  shall 
serve  all  the  people  all  the  time. 

The  American  schoolhouse  has  always  been  the  first  line  of  defense 
in  our  national  life,  but  only  in  recent  years  has  it  become  the  train- 
ing camp  for  American  democracy.  It  was  built  for  the  children 
as  the  future  citizens  of  the  Republic,  but  it  continues  to  serve  the 
boys  and  girls  all  the  better  because  their  elders  share  its  benefits. 
Its  free  use  by  the  people  apart  from  day-school  hours  is  not  a 
charity  or  a  gift,  but  the  right  of  public  ownership  and  the  use  of 
public  property  for  common  and  legitimate  purposes. 

An  Austrian  in  one  of  our  evening  classes  wrote  in  his  compo- 
sition : 

The  evening  schools  are  to  us  immigrants  a  special  gift  from  the  Government. 
With  the  study  of  the  English  language  we  build  a  foundation  for  a  better 
future. 

The  man  had  the  right  motive  in  coming  to  the  evening  school,  but 
he  has  yet  to  learn  that  the  public  schools  of  Pittsburgh,  as  of  other 
cities,  are  the  people's  own  and  the  school  buildings  belong  to  those 
who  will  use  them  for  their  own  advancement. 

The  stalwart  Russian  in  another  class  had  caught  the  better  idea 
when  he  wrote : 

The  United  States  is  the  best  country  in  the  world  for  the  foreign  people, 
especially  in  Pennsylvania.  Suppose  if  the  people  from  here  come  to  Russia, 
I  couldn't  believe  if  the  Russian  Czar  .gave  to  the  people  so  many  education  as 
the  American  gave  to  the  foreigner. 

The  school  system  of  a  city  will  mark  a  perfect  score  only  when 
the  school  plant,  with  all  its  equipment  and  its  conveniences,  becomes 
the  radiating  center  of  community  interest  and  the  constant  stimulus 
to  social  and  civic  progress.  Instruction  in  all  evening  schools  and 
extension  work  must  be  free.  All  training,  conference,  discussion, 
and  social  recreation  must  be  open  alike  to  all  so  far  as  all  share  a 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION.  39 

common  interest  as  residents  and  contribute  to  the  civic  life  as  citi- 
zens. Let  there  be  the  widest  possible  latitude  for  the  expression  of 
local  interest  and  initiative  and  the  greatest  possible  freedom  in 
club  organization,  self -directing  activities,  and  public  lectures;  but 
with  it  all  there  shall  be  the  fundamental  principle  that  the  public 
schools  are  the  people's  own  and  that  they  are,  and  of  right  ought 
to  be,  the  most  potent  factor  in  the  socialization  of  all  citizens  and 
the  Americanization  of  the  foreign-born  adults  as  well  as  for  the 
education  of  their  children  in  the  day  schools. 

Americanization,  moreover,  is  a  question  of  attitude  and  spirit, 
rather  than  of  language  and  geography. 

A  native  of  Poland  in  America  about  two  years  and  in  our  day 
school  for  adult  foreigners  eight  months  wrote : 

I  thank  God  I  am  in  free  country,  where  I  can  not  see  the  hourers  of  war, 
and  where  I  can  be  peaceful.  I  am  against  the  war,  but  if  the  United  States 
went  into  war  I  would  fight  for  the  United  States  under  the  Stars  and  Straps. 
I  have  gratitude  to  those  who  rules  this  country,  for  workingmen  can  go  to 
school  and  receive  education. 

A  similar  view  is  expressed  by  a  bright  Russian  boy,  18  years  old, 
who  in  a  few  months  caught  the  vision  of  American  opportunity. 
In  a  personal  letter  he  wrote : 

It  will  soon  be  two  months  since  I  came  to  school.  I  nothing  know  about 
English  language  and  nothing  read  or  write.  But  now  I  feel  that  I  can  under- 
stand many  words  and  how  to  read  and  write  them.  And  I  know  little  about 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.  And  also  what  is  the  American  flag  and 
why  13  stripes  there,  and  what  means  the  red,  white,  and  blue. 

I  am  a  descendant  of  Russia.    It  is  the  largest  country  of  Europe.    But  there 
is  no  president,  there  all  laws  come  from  Czar,  so  the  Czar  writing  laws  and 
adopt  it  without  agreeableness  of  the  people.    But  here  the  people  have  equal 
rights,  but  if  they  are  citizens.    So  I  should  be  glad  to  be  an  American  citizens. 
Your  thankful  pupil. 

The  evening  school  has  its  practical  side  as  well  as  its  inspiration 
to  new  Americans.  A  young  German,  "  just  six  weeks  over,"  when 
first  enrolling  in  the  evening  school,  said  to  the  principal,  "  I  shpeak 
English  nicht  gut."  When  the  school  closed  he  was  asked  about  the 
progress  he  had  made.  He  smilingly  replied : 

I  git  chob  poss,  while  I  speak  English  viel  besser  as  the  rest.  [I  have  been 
given  a  job  as  boss  because  I  speak  English  much  better  than  the  rest.] 

An  ambitious  Greek  wrote: 

I  came  from  Crete  to  this  country  to  make  a  good  living,  but  I  can  not  get 
job  if  I  can  not  speak  English.  Now  after  while  I  think  I  can  ask  for  job  any 
place.  I  like  this  country  because  if  I  speak  good  English  I  hope  to  learn  any 
kind  of  industrial  work  forever. 

But  let  me  quote  also  a  native  American  upon  the  wider  use  of  the 
public  schools.  This  man,  a  successful  lawyer,  spent  one  or  two 
evenings  a  week  with  his  neighbors  in  a  civic  and  current-events  club, 
which  was  a  part  of  an  organized  social  center.  Said  he : 

I  can  see  in  this  work  possibilities  which  have  practically  no  limit,  except 
as  we  ourselves  prescribe.  To  be  intelligent  citizens  we  must  know  the  pending 
problems,  and  to  know  and  understand  these  problems  we  must  come  together 
and  discuss  them  from  every  angle.  Then  when  election  day  comes  we  can  vote 
intelligently. 

Pittsburgh  had  last  year  more  than  60,000  people  in  the  depart- 
ment of  evening  schools  and  extension  work.  This  number  included 
students  in  the  evening  high,  commercial,  and  trade  courses,  students 


40  PROCEEDINGS   OF  FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

in  elementary  English  and  citizenship,  students  in  household  econ- 
omy and  industrial  arts,  vocal  and  instrumental  music  in  chorus  and 
orchestra  groups,  organized  social  centers  and  other  self-directing 
activities,  public  lectures,  and  entertainments.  There  were  also  a 
special  school  of  citizenship  and  a  day  school  for  adult  foreigners 
open  and  free  to  men  and  women  of  all  ages  and  nationalities. 
Similar  results,  and  no  doubt  much  larger  aggregate  numbers,  were 
recorded  in  other  American  cities. 

The  new  Americans  in  the  evening  schools  were  among  our  most 
regular  and  our  most  appreciative  pupils,  as  we  have  tried  to  show 
through  their  own  peculiar  English.  But  the  5,000  or  more  in  our 
non-English  speaking  classes  are  only  a  small  proportion  of  the 
number  of  Pittsburgh  residents  who  need  Americanization  through 
the  public  schools. 

Civic  preparedness  therefore  calls  for  the  enlargement  and  the 
advancement  of  the  idea  of  an  all-inclusive  public-school  system,  so 
that  the  public-school  building,  with  all  it  stands  for,  shall  be  not 
only  the  community  clubhouse  for  the  people  but  the  city's  training 
camp  for  all  new  citizens  and  the  Nation's  school  of  democracy  for 
the  development  of  whole-hearted  and  true-hearted  Americanism. 

3.  Civic  preparedness  will  recognize  and  conserve  the  best  ideals 
of  its  new  citizens. 

What  has  Europe  given  to  Pittsburgh,  as  to  many  another  Amer- 
ican city?  Not  only  a  large  part  of  its  population  but  much  of  its 
brain  as  well  as  its  brawn;  much  of  its  music,  literature,  and  art; 
much  of  its  energy  and  potential  wealth.  It  has  contributed  much 
in  every  way  to  its  spirit  of  civic  and  industrial  progress.  From  the 
overflow  of  European  civilization  America  may  yet  learn  the  higher 
values  of  spiritual  and  esthetic  life,  and  thus  save  its  own  people 
from  the  deadening  blight  of  hoarded  gold. 

We  may  improve  the  English  somewhat,  but  not  the  poetic  senti- 
ment or  the  devotion  to  Spartan  ideals  of  the  young  Greek  who  has 
been  in  America  two  years.  This  is  what  he  wrote  about  our  last 
Memorial  Day: 

The  thirtieth  of  May  was  decided  as  Day  of  Decoration.  From  the  evening 
of  the  preceding  day  the  stary  and  striped  banners  were  waving  on  many 
buildings,  the  emblem  of  the  strength  and  grandeur  of  the  greatest  Republic  in 
the  world.  Now  the  dawn  succeeded  the  dark  and  the  first  rays  of  the  sun 
threw  plenty  of  light  on  all  flags  that  were  hung  from  almost  every  building  in 
Pittsburgh.  The  nature  payd  also  a  tribute  of  gratitude  [it  rained  that  day] 
to  those  who  by  their  own  blood  put  firm  foundations  on  this  vast  country.  That 
temporary  emotion  of  nature  passed  on  and  the  people  of  Pittsburgh  poured  on 
the  streets  with  festival  dresses  and  so  they  showed  to  the  souls  of  the  cham- 
pions of  the  liberty  that  those  who  die  for  the  liberty  of  their  own  country 
never  die  but  their  memory  is  everlasting. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  musical  clubs  under  our  extension  de- 
partment is  the  Slovak  Chorus,  a  company  of  60  to  75  Austrians,  who 
meet  once  a  week  under  a  skilled  leader  of  their  own  choosing  and 
sing  their  native  folk  songs  in  their  own  language.  Gradually  they 
are  adding  the  American  national  airs,  and  incidentally  learning 
some  English.  But  it  can  hardly  be  considered  un-American  for 
the  board  of  education  to  give  such  national  groups  the  free  use  of 
school  buildings,  with  heat,  light,  and  janitor  service,  while  these 
units  of  a  former  social  structure  wake  the  happy  memories  of  their 
native  lands  in  the  best  music  they  know. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF   FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION.  41 

We  may  teach  the  recent  arrival  from  Russian  Poland  to  dis- 
tinguish more  clearly  between  a  republic  and  a  monarchy  and  to  tell 
it  in  better  English,  but  we  can  not  improve  upon  his  conviction  that 
a  president  is  better  than  a  king. 

America  it  is  not  like  we  have  a  king  they  have  a  Prasidend  they  or  [are] 
free  but  we  a'nt,  every  man  can  do  what  they  want,  they  can  get  a  citizen  if 
they  or  [are]  in  the  contry  5  years,  if  the  Prasidend  want  war  and  the  contry 
don't  want  war  it  a'nt  no  war  but  if  our  king  want  war  we  can't  do  a  thing 
we  only  after  [have  to]  fight  if  it  is  rong  or  not  we  after  fight.  With  a 
Prasidend  the  contry  is  stronger  than  a  king  because  he  cant  do  as  a  king  can. 
A  king  can  gev  [give]  away  the  contry  if  he  want  to  kill  the  people  he  can  but 
a  prasidend  cant  becose  haven't  power  enough  to  do  same  thing  a  king  has. 

Shall  we  not  hold  in  high  regard  also  the  filial  devotion  and  the 
yearning  for  freedom  of  the  Syrian  lad  who  came  from  far-away 
Turkey  to  live  in  America  and  now  begs  his  mother  to  come  to  him 
after  the  war  is  over: 

I  am  mirthless  for  myself  because  I  came  in  America.  I  am  very  mirthful 
in  America,  but  I  am  mirthless  because  I  lafet  you  and  my  family  in  the 
Turkey  Government,  and  the  Turkey  is  in  the  war  now,  and  I  know  the 
Turkey  law  is  difficult  on  us. 

Dear  Mother,  I  wish  to  this  war  over  so  we  can  see  our  country  how  she  is 
getting  long.  If  it  is  same  as  I  like  used  to  be  under  the  Turkey  law  why  I 
tell  you  from  now  I  don't  think  I'll  come  back  to  our  country  because  I  came 
in  America  and  I  seeing  the  civil  people  how  they  living  in  America. 

Dear  Mother,  I  promise  to  you  I  don't  come  back  in  our  country  but  we  can 
do  this  and  the  right  thing.  You  give  me  promise  after  the  war  over  will  you 
bring  our  family  to  America  so  we  can  live  with  the  civil  people. 

The  melting-pot  idea  in  Americanization  may  do  for  a  figure  of 
speech,  but  do  we  want  our  new  Americans  to  lose  their  identity,  their 
heritage  of  music  and  art  and  love  of  home?  May  we  not  encourage 
them  to  bring  to  us  the  best  they  have  and  enjoy  with  us  the  newer 
and  richer  life  of  opportunity  and  service  ?  Will  not  the  city,  which 
prizes  and  conserves  the  spiritual  and  the  human  contributions  these 
people  bring  from  their  home  lands,  bind  them  to  itself  with  hooks 
of  steel?  Is  it  not  infinitely  better  for  the  city  to  weave  into  the 
fabric  of  its  civic  life  the  best  ideals  of  the  Old  World  with  the  best 
we  have  yet  evolved  in  the  New  ?  This  is  indeed  civic  preparedness 
for  a  loyal  and  a  staying  citizenship  and  preparedness  as  well  for 
national  defense. 

4.  Americanization  calls  JOT  a  conscious  and  constant  devotion  to 
civic  and  national  ideals. 

The  true  citizen  assumes  a  conscious  and  an  individual  responsi- 
bility as  a  unit  in  a  democracy.  The  civic  sense  is  a  part  of  his  daily 
life,  the  sense  of  the  Nation  is  in  his  heart.  But  loyalty  to  national 
.ideals  must  be  constant  in  its  appeal  if  it  is  to  be  trustworthy  in  the 
hour  of  trial.  Patriotism  is  not  taught  effectively  in  a  Fourth  of 
July  celebration  or  by  the  occasional  display  of  the  American  flag. 
The  torch  of  freedom  is  not  a  skyrocket  or  a  roman  candle.  It  is 
rather  the  steady  flame  in  the  hearts  and  homes  of  a  free  people. 
Patriotism  is  a  creed  for  citizens  rather  than  a  call  for  soldiers.  It 
must  find  its  home  in  the  hearts  of  children  and  infuse  its  strength 
into  the  red  blood  of  men. 

This  sense  of  the  city  must  be  an  essential  factor  in  civic  pre- 
paredness ;  this  sense  of  the  Nation  must  be  a  part  of  its  educational 
creed.  President  Vincent,  of  the  University  of  Minnesota,  and  of 


42  PEOCEEDINGS  OF  FIRST   CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

Chautauqua  Assembly,  in  speaking  of  the  education  of  the  next 
generation,  puts  the  case  fairly  in  these  words : 

From  the  earliest  years  of  the  elementary  schools,  through  the  university  and 
all  the  agencies  of  popular  education,  effort  will  be  made  to  develop  in  every 
mind  some  sense  of  the  vast  ongoing  collective  life  men  call  the  Nation,  a  pano- 
rama of  the  past,  with  its  great  figures,  its  story  and  song,  its  struggles  and 
victories,  its  mistakes  and  failures.  And  this  will  be  done  with  the  hope  of 
projecting  into  the  future  a  vision  of  purpose  and  responsibility  which  will  give 
meaning  to  each  individual  life. 

With  this  outlook  and  uplook  and  onlook  of  true  citizenship,  the 
teaching  of  history  to  our  boys  and  girls  and  civics  to  our  men  and 
women  will  take  on  a  new  and  vital  significance.  It  will  mean  loyalty 
both  to  the  city  and  the  Nation  as  a  heart  service  rather  than  a  re- 
quired but  of  ttimes  a  neglected  duty.  It  will  make  the  new  Americans 
wholly  Americans  in  loyal  devotion,  as  they  or  their  elders  were 
wholly  Germans  or  Greeks  or  Englishmen  in  the  homeland. 

Is  not  this  broadened  view  of  Americanization  the  reason  for  this 
citizenship  convention  so  well  timed  and  so  admirably  planned  by 
the  Bureau  of  Naturalization?  Is  not  this  the  inspiration  for  a 
Nation-wide  movement  for  a  unified  and  loyal  citizenship?  We 
must  teach  patriotism  every  day  of  the  year  in  our  schools  and  in 
our  homes,  in  public  service  and  in  private  life,  and  then  we  shall 
not  fail  to  maintain  national  ideals  or,  if  need  be,  to  defend  by  force 
of  arms  the  national  domain. 

In  harmony  with  this  movement  for  a  whole-hearted  Americanism 
might  not  the  naturalization  courts  revise  their  line  of  examination 
and,  instead  of  or  perhaps  in  addition  to  asking  candidates  for  citi- 
zenship about  the  Federal  Constitution  and  the  machinery  of  govern- 
ment, ask  for  their  reasons  for  wanting  to  become  American  citizens, 
learn  their  motives  for  seeking  American  homes,  and  get  their  atti- 
tude toward  democratic  institutions?  This  would  reveal  their  civic 
training,  and  in  its  reflex  influence  give  color  and  tone  and  impetus 
and  right  direction  to  the  teaching  of  citizenship  to  those  who  seek, 
through  naturalization,  the  highest  honor  America  can  bestow  to  the 
immigrant. 

That  new  Americans  have  various  and  sometimes  uncertain  mo- 
tives in  seeking  citizenship  may  readily  be  judged  from  some  an- 
swers they  give.  "  Why  do  you  want  to  be  an  American  ?  "  is  a 
question  frequently  asked  in  our  classes  in  citizenship.  One  man 
answered,  "  To  have  full  rights  in  this  country  " ;  another,  "  To  have 
freedom  and  everything  that  belongs  to  it " ;  another,  "  To  have  the 
right  to  vote  and  to  better  my  working  conditions."  Still  another 
in  quaint  but  expressive  English  said,  "  When  I  will  be  a  good  citizen 
I  will  vote  for  a  good  party  which  belongs  to  the  best  way." 

These  answers  are  not  wholly  unsatisfactory,  but  they  do  not  have 
the  patriotic  ring  of  two  others  I  shall  quote.  One  man  wrote,  "I 
want  to  be  an  American  citizen  because  I  love  this  country  and  want 
to  be  an  American  only.  I  will  not  be  a  hyphenated  American." 

Probably  the  best  answer  came  from  an  intelligent  Swede,  who 
wrote: 

I  am  glad  and  grateful  for  the  privilege  of  becoming  an  American  citizen,  for 
I  have  learned  to  love  this  country  with  all  my  heart,  and  where  my  heart  is 
there  is  where  I  want  my  home  also.  What  can  I  give  in  return  for  all  those 
privileges?  Only  my  honest  desire,  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  to  work  for  the 


PROCEEDINGS  OP   FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION.  43 

welfare  of  this  Republic  and  to  help  to  elect  only  the  best  men  to  office.  It  is 
well  for  us,  therefore,  to  consider  deeply  the  Constitution  that  we  may  live  in 
peace  and  prosperity ;  that  we  may  grow  into  an  even  stronger  Nation  under 
the  protection  of  the  American  flag. 

THE  CORNER  STONES  IN   CIVIC  PREPAREDNESS. 

In  attempting  to  build  a  foundation  for  a  true  and  lasting  Ameri- 
canism I  have  purposely  avoided  statistics.  They  are  alarming, 
indeed,  but  in  themselves  they  are  cold  and  lifeless.  I  have  omitted 
the  plans  and  the  pedagogy  of  evening  schools  for  new  Americans. 
These  will  readily  find  form  and  expression  where  their  need  is 
fully  manifest.  I  have  said  nothing  about  military  training  in  school 
or  in  camp.  These  are  details  rather  than  fundamentals  in  adequate 
preparedness  for  national  service.  I  leave  to  others  who  know,  or 
who  think  they  know,  the  problems  of  industrial  and  commercial 
preparedness,  which  will  indeed  be  serious  and  far-reaching  prob- 
lems after  the  world  is  again  at  peace.  May  we  not,  however,  recog- 
nize as  the  corner  stones  in  the  building  of  a  true  democracy  these 
principles:  (a)  Good  American  homes  for  all  Americans.  (&)  A 
school  system  for  universal  service,  (c)  The  conservation  and  fusion 
of  social  and  civic  virtues  from  other  lands,  (d)  Devotion  and  loy- 
alty to  American  national  ideals. 

Upon  such  a  foundation  may  be  builded  a  structure  of  Ameri- 
canism which  shall  develop  and  perpetuate  the  best  life  of  the  city 
and  steadfastly  stand  for  the  sure  defense  of  the  Nation  in  all  the 
years  of  domestic  peace  as  well  as  in  the  possible  conflict  with  a 
foreign  foe. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  we  have  had  a  very 
great  number  of  rich  pieces  in  the  few  days  we  have  been  together,  but 
none  of  them  has  been  more  interesting,  I  am  sure,  than  that  of  Mr. 
Berkey's,  in  showing  us  what  his  schools  in  Pittsburgh  have  been 
doing  during  the  past  year.  Mr.  Berkey  has  spoken  on  behalf  of 
the  school.  We  will  now  hear  a  message  from  the  chief  naturaliza- 
tion examiner,  Mr.  William  M.  Ragsdale,  who  also  is  located  at 
Pittsburgh,  and  who  also  will  tell  some  of  the  problems  of  getting  the 
alien  into  the  night  schools.  These  problems  we  have  endeavored 
to  share  with  the  public-school  authorities.  In  Pittsburgh,  as  else- 
where, our  examiner  has  worked  and  endeavored  earnestly  to  dis- 
seminate the  message  of  freedom  and  Americanism  to  the  alien  body. 

I  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  Mr.  Ragsdale. 

ADDRESS  OF  W.  M.  RAGSDALE,  CHIEF  NATURALIZATION 
EXAMINER,  PITTSBURGH,  PA. 

The  Naturalization  Service  as  now  constituted  has  been  in  opera- 
tion nearly  10  years.  The  United  States,  for  convenience,  is  divided 
into  11  naturalization  districts.  In  each  of  these  districts  is  located 
a  chief  examiner,  usually  in  the  largest  city,  and  he  is  given  a  corps 
of  examiners  as  nearly  commensurate  with  the  necessities  of  the 
work  as  the  means  provided  by  Congress  will  permit. 


44  PROCEEDINGS  OP  FIBST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

District  No.  4,  or  the  Pittsburgh  district,  comprises  the  western 
district  of  Pennsylvania,  25  counties;  the  western  district  of  New 
York,  17  counties ;  the  State  of  Ohio,  88  counties ;  the  State  of  West 
Virginia,  55  counties;  4  counties  in  Maryland;  and  2  counties  in 
Kentucky.  I  have  six  examiners  and  one  clerk  to  supervise  this 
district. 

In  this  country  the  power  to  naturalize  has  been  vested  in  the 
courts  since  the  foundation  of  the  Government.  The  present  law 
defines  the  kind  and  character  of  courts  that  now  have  naturaliza- 
tion jurisdiction. 

When  we  first  were  sent  to  the  field  in  the  administration  of  this 
law  we  were  groping  in  the  dark  as  to  just  what  to  do,  as  to  what 
was  expected  of  us,  just  where  the  application  of  our  duty  lay  to 
the  law  as  we  read  it.  We  examined  into  the  petitions  as  they  were 
filed  and  made  investigations  of  the  fitness  for  citizenship  of  th^ 
candidates,  the  competence  of  the  witnesses,  and  appeared  in  the 
courts  when  the  petitions  came  on  for  their  final  hearing. 

Preliminary  to  the  applicants  appearing  in  court  the  examiner 
visits  the  community  where  these  particular  applicants  live.  We 
get  this  information  by  an  examination  of  the  duplicate  of  the  peti- 
tion on  file  in  the  bureau  at  Washington,  and  notice  being  sent  on 
to  us;  or  we  get  it  most  frequently  by  regular  visits  to  the  clerks 
of  courts  and  the  constant  supervision  of  the  filings  in  the  various 
courts.  We  then  appear  in  the  court  at  these  hearings  to  assist  the 
court  in  arriving  at  a  just  conclusion  as  to  whether  the  applicant 
should  be  admitted  or  not;  to  shorten  the  examination  in \court 
when  preliminary  examination  has  shown  that  the  applicant  is\ fully 
qualified;  to  ask  the  dismissal  of  the  petitions  of  those  wh©  are 
shown  to  be  unfit ;  to  ask  the  continuance  of  those  who  are  unready. 
In  this  way  we  are  trying  to  bring  about  a  uniform  standard  as  to 
the  requirements  of  those  who  may  be  admitted  to  citizenship. 

There  are  three  salient  features  that  the  law  prescribes  that  each 
court  must  be  satisfied  of  before  it  can  admit  an  alien  to  citizenship : 
His  residence  the  required  length  of  time ;  his  good  moral  character 
during  that  time;  and  that  he  is  attached  to  the  principles  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.  It  is  generally  easy  to  establish 
whether  a  man  has  been  within  the  country  for  the  five  years.  He 
accounts  for  that  himself,  usually  in  a  very  satisfactory  way,  and  if 
he  arrived  since  June,  1906,  a  certificate  of  his  arrival  from  the  com- 
missioner of  immigration  at  the  port  of  entry  is  furnished  through 
the  Bureau  of  Naturalization.  His  good  moral  character  and  resi- 
dence are  also  vouched  for  by  two  credible  witnesses,  citizens  of  the 
United  States. 

But  whether  he  is  "  attached  to  the  principles  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States"  is  often  much  more  difficult  to  determine. 
Many  of  them,  of  course,  by  reason  of  previous  education  can  readily 
pass  a  satisfactory  examination:  Ask  the  average  applicant  whether 
he  is  attached  to  the  principles  of  the  Constitution  and  he  does  not 
know  what  you  mean.  Ask  him  why  he  wants  to  become  a  citizen 
and  he  will  say  "I  like  this  country  and  want  to  stay."  Ask  him 
what  he  knows  of  the  form  and  principles  of  our  Government  and 
you  will  find  him  woefully  deficient.  Some  of  them  know  absolutely 
nothing  of  the  organization  of  the  Government;  they  can  not  even 
tell  us  that  we  have  a  President.  They  can  not  tell  us  who  makes 


PROCEEDINGS   OF  FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION.  45 

the  laws  for  this  country,  yet  many  of  them  seem  to  have  in  them 
the  making  of  good  citizens. 

In  the  earlier  years  of  our  service  the  courts  found  it  necessary 
either  to  dismiss  or  to  continue  nearly  35  per  cent  of  those  who  came 
up  for  citizenship,  some  on  account  of  their  general  ignorance  and 
some  for  lack  of  knowledge  of  our  Government  and  its  institutions. 
They  often,  however,  felt  constrained  to  admit  quite  a  large  percent- 
age notwithstanding  the  lack  of  educational  qualifications,  giving  the 
applicant,  as  they  said,  "  the  benefit  of  the  doubt."  Especially  were 
they  inclined  to  admit  such  applicants  where  good  moral  character 
had  been  established  and  a  long  continued  residence  in  this  country 
had  been  shown,  or  where  the  applicant  owned  his  own  home  or 
was  raising  a  large  family.  It  is  doubtful,  however,  whether  the 
"courts  were  justified  in  admitting  such  applicants  to  citizenship,  for 
the  law  requires  that  the  court  "  shall  be  satisfied  "  and  not  in  doubt 
as  to  the  qualifications  of  the  applicant  before  this  high  privilege  shall 
be  conferred  upon  him. 

In  continuing  the  applicants  who  were  not  qualified,  the  courts 
would  frequently  ask  us :  "  What  can  we  do  for  these  people  ?  " 
"  How  can  they  find  out  these  things  ?  "  And  the  best  that  could  be 
told  them  at  that  time  was  to  get  a  copy  of  the  Constitution  and  study 
it,  or  to  converse  with  their  better  informed  friends,  thus  turning 
them  loose  upon  their  own  resources  and  upon  the  tender  mercies  of 
their  associations.  A  few  of  the  braver  souls  subsequently  qualified, 
reapplied,  and  were  admitted,  but  a  large  number  disappeared  and 
have  not  since  been  heard  from. 

There  seemed  to  be  lacking  the  means  by  which  the  applicant  could 
be  properly  instructed  in  the  general  provisions  of  the  Constitution 
and  the  practical  workings  of  our  Government,  so  that  he  could  tell 
what  he  knows  of  the  organization  of  the  Government  and  make 
credible  his  statement  in  the  oath  the  applicant  takes  that  he  is  at- 
tached to  the  principles  of  the  Constitution. 

The  pressure  began  to  make  itself  felt;  the  spirit  of  helpfulness 
began  to  permeate  the  neighbors,  the  civic  bodies,  the  school-teachers, 
and  other  persons  interested,  who  began  to  ask:  "Why  can  we  not 
establish  night  schools  for  these  people  ?  "  "  Why  can  not  the  schools 
provide  a  regular  course  or  a  regular  system  of  study  where  these 
people  can  go  and  acquire  this  information  ? "  They  might  live  for 
years  and  years  in  their  respective  communities,  huddled  together 
with  persons  of  their  own  nationality,  speaking  their  own  language 
and  not  mingling  with  their  American  neighbors,  without  ever  learn- 
ing pur  language  or  understanding  anything  about  our  Government. 
I  think  as  far  back  as  1909  a  public  school  of  this  kind  was  started  in 
the  State  of  Connecticut  in  response  to  this  particular  call.  Later  we 
found  in  other  centers  that  the  people  had  begun  to  take  up  the  ques- 
tion themselves.  Los  Angeles  opened  night  schools  for  aliens  after 
correspondence  with  the  Bureau  of  Naturalization  at  Washington. 
Cleveland  began  to  inaugurate  citizenship  classes.  Citizenship 
schools  were  formed  by  those  having  it  in  their  hearts  to  help  these 
people  get  what  they  wanted,  what  they  sought  for — an  intelligent 
understanding  of  the  principles  of  this  Government  of  which  they 
wanted  to  become  citizens. 

It  was  found  that  in  order  to  bring  out  the  facts  as  to  a  man's 
qualifications,  his  knowledge  of  the  Government,  the  court,  whether 


46  PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST   CITIZENSHIP   CONVENTION. 

it  meant  to  or  not,  and  we  examiners  as  well,  would  have  to  resort  to 
a  sort  of  catechismal  examination,  narrowing  it  down  to  certain 
simple  questions :  Who  makes  the  laws  ?  What  does  Congress  consist 
of  ?  Who  is  the  Chief  Executive  ?  What  is  the  highest  court  in  the 
country  ?  This  gave  rise  to  other  influences. 

Many  persons  more  or  less  connected  with  naturalization  proceed- 
ings or  alive  to  the  possibilities  of  the  occasion,  especially  a  number 
of  clerks  of  courts,  began  to  publish  and  sell  little  books  in  the  form 
of  a  catechism  on  civil  government.  The  clerk  would  tell  the  appli- 
cant of  the  requirements  of  the  law  and  would  say,  "  Do  you  want 
to  buy  one  of  these  little  books  containing  the  questions  and  answers 
usually  asked  by  the  court  ?  "  and  in  that  way  sold  many  of  them.  In 
the  absence  of  something  better,  some  of  the  judges  seemed  to  regard 
it  as  one  method  at  least  by  which  they  might  be  satisfied  of  the 
applicant's  qualifications  in  that  particular  line.  I  have  observed 
judges  on  occasion  to  ask  for  those  little  books  where  the  applicant 
seemed  to  be  wholly  without  knowledge  but  where  he  would  insist 
that  he  had  studied  in  the  little  book.  The  court  would  then  take 
the  book  and  ask  him  the  questions,  reading  from  it,  and  it  was  as- 
tonishing how  readily  the  applicants  could  then  answer.  They  had 
learned  these  questions  and  answers  parrotlike  in  order  to  get  by 
the  court,  seeming  to  regard  it  as  merely  an  ordeal  they  had  to  go 
through,  and  tried  to  make  the  best  of  it. 

Another  influence  began  to  go  forth.  Various  church,  people  be- 
gan to  take  up  the  question,  and  in  communities,  especially  in  the 
smaller  communities  where  the  alien  population  was  not  dominant, 
the  spirit  of  helpfulness  began  to  pervade  them,  and  they  began  to 
assist  their  alien  neighbors  by  having  evening  classes  in  the  churches. 
The  Y.  M.  C.  A.  then  began  to  find  a  field  for  its  influence,  and  here 
and  there  established  English  and  citizenship  classes. 

Another  influence,  that  I  can  hardly  mention  with  patience,  was 
a  class  of  self-constituted  teachers  proposing  to  their  clients  for  a 
consideration,  usually  "  all  that  the  traffic  would  bear,"  a  guaranty 
to  get  them  their  citizen  papers.  Certain  court  interpreters,  or  un- 
scrupulous men  of  a  given  nationality,  would  thus  exploit  their  com- 
patriots in  the  business  of  getting  citizen  papers.  Being  clever  men 
and  in  constant  attendance  upon  the  courts,  they  would  soon  become 
familiar  with  the  questions  usually  asked  in  court,  and  would  so 
drill  and  coach  their  clients  in  the  answers  to  these  certain  questions 
as  to  enable  an  applicant  very  cleverly  sometimes  to  mislead  the  court 
into  believing  that  he  was  well  qualified,  his  actual  knowledge,  in 
truth,  being  confined  to  an  unintelligent  answering,  by  sound,  the  few 
specific  questions. 

All  of  these  methods  had  their  effect  in  reducing  the  denials  and 
continuances,  especially  in  the  larger  cities,  but  it  was  manifest  that 
we  needed  something  more  efficient,  uniform,  Nation-wide. 

In  one  of  the  counties  in  western  Pennsylvania,  where  coal  mining 
is  the  principal  industry,  I  attended  a  hearing  where  there  were  ap- 
proximately 130  applicants  for  naturalization.  Of  this  number,  on 
examination  in  court,  between  30  and  40  were  found  to  be  utterly 
deficient  in  their  knowledge  of  our  Government  and  its  institutions, 
and  for  this  reason  their  applications  were  continued  by  the  court 
with  instructions  that  they  must  learn  something  more  of  our  Gov- 


PROCEEDINGS   OF  FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION.  47 

ernment.  Yet  all  of  these  men  were  hard  working,  sturdy  fellows, 
and  fairly  intelligent — rich  material  for  the  making  of  good  citizens. 
They  did  not  seem  to  comprehend  what  was  expected  of  them,  and 
the  pained  and  disappointed  look  in  their  faces  seemed  only  to  show 
that  the  court  had  ruled  against  them.  They  did  not  know 'where 
to  go,  to  whom  to  apply,  or  how  to  acquire  this  particular  knowledge 
that  the  court  held  was  essential  to  their  being  admitted  to  citizen- 
ship. 

This  court  was  presided  over  by  an  excellent  judge,  large  of  head 
and  warm  of  heart,  and  the  manifest  disappointment  of  these 
applicants  touched  his  sympathy,  and  he  said  to  me  at  the  close  of  the 
hearing :  "  Is  there  not  something  that  we  can  do  for  these  people  to 
help  them  into  citizenship  ?  "  And  he  related  to  me  a  circumstance 
that  came  under  his  own  observation: 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  Spanish-American  War  there  was  a  call  for  volunteers, 
and  the  quota  for  his  county  was  200,  instructions  being  to  limit  enlistments 
to  citizens  of  the  United  States.  Notices  were  sent  out,  and  on  the  morning 
for  enrollments  1,100  of  these  people — strong,  sturdy  fellows  from  the  mines — 
came  in  groups  and  sought  to  be  enlisted  for  the  service  of  this  country.  As 
they  were  aliens,  the  enrolling  officers  were  compelled  to  decline  to  take  them. 
Many  of  them  earnestly  protested,  "  Take  me ;  take  me ;  me  soldier,  me  sol- 
dier in  old  country."  "  Surely,"  said  the  judge,  "  these  men  who  are  ready  to 
make  such  sacrifices  have  a  love  for  this  country  that  makes  for  good  citi- 
zenship." 

And  we  came  to  the  conclusion  that  night  schools  and  citizenship 
classes  for  them  seemed  to  point  out  the  best  solution  of  the  prob- 
lem. Since  that  time  two  public  night  schools  have  been  started  in 
that  county,  with  the  prospects  of  four  others  being  established 
this  fall. 

I  might  multiply  instances  showing  that  the  spirit  of  helpfulness, 
the  desire  to  help  the  worthy,  was  manifesting  itself,  and  that 
thoughtful  men  and  women  connected  with  or  interested  in  citizen- 
ship were  addressing  themselves  to  its  solution.  The  Bureau  of 
Naturalization  thus  began1  to  awaken  to  its  own  opportunities  and  to 
encourage  the  opening  of  night  schools.  It  remained,  however,  for 
this  administration,  through  the  present  Secretary  of  Labor,  to 
authorize  an  active  campaign  soliciting  the  public-school  authorities 
throughout  the  entire  country — in  every  city  and  town  where  there 
was  a  sufficient  alien  population  to  justify  it — to  enter  into  active 
cooperation  with  the  bureau  in  providing  night  schools  and  citizen- 
ship classes  for  applicants  for  naturalization.  Since  the  summer 
of  1915  we  have  established  cooperation  with  the  public-school 
authorities  in  650  cities  and  towns  in  44  different  States,  the  bureau 
sending  the  public-school  authorities  monthly  lists  of  applicants,  both 
for  first  and  second  papers,  in  their  respective  communities.  In 
addition,  personal  letters  are  sent  to  each  applicant  advising  him  of 
the  schools  and  of  the  benefits  which  will  accrue  by  his  attendance 
upon  them.  In  the  district  over  which  I  preside  we  were  instru- 
mental in  establishing  cooperation  in  71  school  districts,  with  the 
promise  of  19  additional  schools  to  commence  this  fall.  In  many 
places  the  schools  have  been  successful  beyond  our  expectations,  both 
as  to  attendance  and  accomplishment.  In  some  places,  however,  we 
have  encountered  difficulties  that  we  have  as  yet  been  unable  to 
overcome. 


48  PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIBST  CITIZENSHIP  CONTENTION". 

It  is  to  the  solution  of  these  problems  that  we  as  Government  offi- 
cers and  you  as  educators  and  all  of  us  as  American  citizens  must 
earnestly,  patiently,  and  persistently  address  ourselves. 

One  of  the  most  serious  difficulties  that  we  meet  with,  and  which 
no  doubt  will  always  be  with  us,  is  the  natural  timidity,  fear,  and 
hesitancy  of  the  alien  himself.  A  stranger  in  a  strange  land,  he  is 
embarrassed  in  the  presence  of  his  American  neighbors;  he  is  timid 
and  distrustful  of  himself  when  he  comes  before  the  teachers;  he  is 
filled  with  fear  when  he  is  approached  by  the  Government  officers; 
and  his  feelings  amount  almost  to  terror  when  he  is  brought  face  to 
face  with  the  courts.  It  is  to  overcome  this  timidity  and  embarass- 
ment  that  we,  in  our  contact  with  him,  must  be  careful  to  impress 
upon  him  our  friendliness,  to  make  him  feel  that  we  come  to  him  or 
will  receive  him  in  the  spirit  of  kindness  and  helpfulness,  and  my 
experience  has  shown  that  this  attitude  has  been  many  times  repaid 
by  their  thankfulness  and  gratitude.  We  must  work  upon  those 
who  have  come  into  the  schools  to  have  them  in  turn  work  upon 
their  own  alien  neighbors  and  especially  among  their  friends  and 
companions  of  their  own  respective  races.  Each  can  tell  them  of 
his  own  experiences  and  help  to  dispel  that  innate  fear  and  timidity 
that  causes  the  others  to  hold  back  and  refrain  from  entering  the 
schools. 

Another  difficulty  or  excuse  that  is  frequently  offered  for  not  at- 
tending the  school  is  our  present  unprecedented  industrial  condition. 
In  many  of  the  larger  centers,  where  the  mills  are  working  overtime, 
the  men  are  worked  in  shifts,  usually  two  weeks  day  shift  and  two 
weeks  night  shift.  Those  who  attend  the  night  school  while  on  day 
shift,  and  who  of  necessity  must  drop  out  when  they  are  put  on  the 
night  shift,  find  themselves  behind  their  classes  when  they,  renew 
their  attendance  two  weeks  later,  and  thus  the  system  of  consecutive 
instruction  is  for  them  disorganized  and  they  become  discouraged 
and  frequently  drop  out  altogether.  This  condition  may  be  only 
temporary  and  in  time  may  cure  itself,  but  so  long  as  it  does  last  the 
only  suggestion  that  I  can  make  is  that,  where  feasible,  afternoon 
and  evening  classes  be  established  to  run  concurrently  through  a 
prescribed  course  and  that  the  workmen  be  shifted  from  the  after- 
noon to  evening  classes  as  occasion  may  require. 

We  have  found,  too,  that  in  some  instances  the  attendance,  ample 
and  enthusiastic  at  first,  has  dwindled  without  any  apparent  reason 
to  a  mere  handful,  sometimes  necessitating  the  discontinuance  of  the 
classes  altogether.  I  have  never  been  able  to  get  an  accurate,  uni- 
form, or  general  workable  reason  for  this.  Sometimes  it  is  a  com- 
plaint about  the  teacher,  whether  always  justified  or  not  I  am  unable 
to  say ;  but  whatever  the  reason,  it  is  certain  that  the  interest  of  the 
pupil  is  not  sustained.  Where  this  is  the  case  we  Government  exam- 
iners do  not  feel  competent  to  offer  a  specific  remedy ;  the  solution  of 
this  phase  of  the  question  must  rest  with  the  school  authorities  them- 
selves. Care  in  selecting  teachers  especially  qualified  for  these  par- 
ticular duties  is  of  course  essential ;  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  as  this 
movement,  now  in  its  initial  stages,  progresses,  the  earnest/  and 
intelligent  efforts  of  the  school  authorities  will  be  found  fully  equal 
to  the  solution  of  this  phase  of  the  work  and  be  able  to  providje  for 
their  classes  in  such  a  way  as  to  stimulate  the  interest  of  those  in 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION.  49 

attendance,  so  that  their  numbers  will  be  augmented  rather  than 
diminished  throughout  the  term.  A  definite  and  well-rounded 
course  of  instruction,  with  one  step  leading  on  to  another,  at  the  con- 
clusion of  which  a  certificate  of  graduation  could  be  given  to  the 
pupil,  it  seems  to  me  would  be  one  way  at  least  to  stimulate  con- 
tinued attendance.  Such  certificates  are  now  given  by  several  of 
the  schools  in  my  district.  In  Cincinnati  and  Pittsburgh  gradua- 
tion exercises  are  held,  and  those  who  have  shown  a  proper  degree 
of  efficiency  on  examination  are  awarded  one  of  these  diplomas,  and 
it  is  surprising  and  gratifying  how  highly  the  pupils  prize  them. 
I  am  advised  that  some  of  them  frame  their  certificates  to  hang  up 
in  their  rooms  along  with  their  naturalization  certificates. 

The  task  before  us  is  a  large  one,  and  without  attempting  to  burden 
you  with  statistics  let  me  say  briefly  that  there  are  to-day  in  this 
country  approximately  13,000,000  aliens,  3,500,000  of  whom  are  males 
above  21  years  of  age — all  potential  citizens.  We  have  been  natural- 
izing on  an  average  100,000  a  year  for  the  last  five  years.  Assuming 
that  sooner  or  later  the  great  bulk  of  these  will  apply  for  citizenship, 
we  have  many  a  year's  task  ahead  of  us ;  but  with  the  combined  coop- 
eration of  the  public-school  authorities  with  the  Bureau  of  Naturali- 
zation we  are  moving  forward  with  every  hope  of  success. 

Finally  and  above  all  the  most  potent  force  for  getting  the  alien 
into  the  night  school  lies  with  the  courts,  for  just  to  the  extent  that 
they  uniformly  and  consistently  require  a  high  standard  of  intel- 
ligence as  to  the  form  and  principles  of  our  Government  from  those 
seeking  citizenship  will  their  influence  be  reflected  in  the  attendance 
upon  the  night  schools. 

It  behooves  every  educator,  every  agency  of  the  Government,  and 
the  combined  social  forces  of  every  community  to  unite  in  the  solu- 
tion of  these  great  problems  until  a  high  and  uniform  standard 
of  admission  to  citizenship  has  been  attained.  Then  not  only  will 
the  naturalization  judge,  supported  by  a  quickened  public  conscience, 
be  satisfied  that  the  letter  of  the  law  has  been  complied  with,  but 
the  community  will  be  enriched  by  the  addition  of  an  intelligent 
unit  to  its  citizenship. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  I  have  the  pleasure  to  announce  to  you  the 
Commissioner  of  Naturalization,  who  will  make  the  presentation 
address  introducing  the  President. 

Commissioner  CAMPBELL.  I  feel  that  this  is  rather  an  un- 
gracious task  that  I  am  about  to  perform,  thereby  delaying  this 
audience  in  gratifying  the  wish  which  brought  it  here.  Nevertheless 
it  is  necessary,  since  I  see  so  many  strange  faces  who,  it  seems  to  me, 
I  have  not  seen  here  before,  that  they  should  know  something  of  the 
spirit  of  this  convention  as  well  as  its  purposes,  the  spirit  of  patriotic 
service.  If  you  have  not  that,  you  will  lose  the  essence  of  what  the 
President  is  going  to  say,  because  I  can  tell  you  that,  although  we 
have  had  no  conference  with  him,  I  know  what  he  thinks  about  it, 
and  I  know  he  could  not  have  refrained  from  coming  here,  and  it  was 
70552°— 17 4 


50  PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST   CITIZENSHIP   CONVENTION. 

with  that  conviction  that  I  presumed  so  far  as  to  indicate  before  he 
ever  made  a  promise  that  I  believed  he  would  be  here.  Now,  it  is 
necessary,  in  order  to  understand  what  the  design  of  this  meeting  is, 
to  answer  a  question  that  has  been  propounded  and  that  doubtless 
everyone  of  you  will  ask  himself,  "  What  has  the  Bureau  of  Natural- 
ization to  do  with  education  ?  "  Frankly,  as  educators,  it  has  nothing 
to  do  with  it — nothing. 

When  this  present  law  was  passed  10  years  ago,  by  which  the  Fed- 
eral Government  for  the  first  time  assumed  supervision  and  con- 
trol of  the  granting  of  citizenship,  there  was  embodied  in  it  a  pro- 
vision which,  though  it  has  been  there  from  the  foundation,  has  never 
been  made  effective.  That  is  the  provision  that  no  court  shall  admit 
an  alien  to  citizenship  until  it  is  satisfied  that  he  is  attached — 
attached — to  the  principles  of  the  Constitution. 

Now  that  seems  a  very  simple  kind  of  a  thing  until  you  come  to  put 
it  into  practical  operation,  but  "  attachment "  is  an  interior  state. 
How  is  a  court  going  to  be  "  satisfied  "  that  a  man  to  whom  it  gives  a 
charter  of  American  liberty  even  knows  what  the  principles  of  the 
Constitution  are,  in  the  sense  that  he  identifies  them?  When  the 
examiners  go  out  to  perform  their  duties  of  investigation  they  ascer- 
tain that  a  man  has  lived  a  good  moral  life,  has  not  violated  the  law, 
has  been  here  five  years,  and  says  that  he  is  attached  to  the  principles 
of  the  Constitution.  He  comes  before  the  court  and  the  judge  asks 
him  a  number  of  questions,  and  if  he  answers  those  questions  with  the 
replies  which  he  can  commit  to  memory  he  is  admitted,  otherwise  he 
is  deferred  or  perhaps  even  denied. 

Now,  it  is  clearly  impossible  to  administer  the  law,  in  the  spirit 
and  for  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  intended,  under  any  such  system 
as  that.  Let  me  illustrate:  Here  is  a  poor  alien  who  has  come  here 
to  live.  He  has  a  job  in  the  mines,  let  us  say,  and  by  some  inherent 
power  of  perception  of  an  inscrutable  nature  we  expect  him  to  dis- 
cover what  the  principles  of  the  Constitution  are.  Of  course,  he 
does  not  do  it;  equally  of  course,  the  poor  fellow  unhesitatingly 
swears  he  is  attached  to  the  principles  of  the  Constitution.  The  court 
accepts  that  and  he  is  admitted. 

I  will  ask  any  of  you,  What  kind  of  American  citizenship  is  it  that 
does  not  know  the  principles  of  the  Constitution,  or  if  it  does  know 
and  love  the  principles  of  the  Constitution,  loves  them  for  oneself 
alone  ? 

As  Mr.  Kagsdale  has  informed  you,  this  condition  gradually  pro- 
duced an  effect  on  the  minds  of  the  judges,  on  the  minds  of  the  natu- 
ralization officers,  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  and  of 
first  one  educational  institution  after  another,  and  finally  that  thing 
happened  under  this  administration  which  was  sure  to  happen,  be- 
cause the  vitalizing  spirit  of  this  administration  looks  beneath  the 


PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION.  51 

mere  surface  of  things.  It  is  the  spirit  of  our  institutions  that  means 
everything  to  us,  and  by  some  law  of  the  spirit  which  we  can  not 
undertake  to  explain  there  has  gradually  spread  through  the  coun- 
try— has  certainly  spread  through  the  officers  and  the  courts — the 
view  that  something  might  be  rightfully  done  and  something  plainly 
ought  to  be  done  for  the  benefit  of  the  people  of  the  country,  for  the 
benefit  of  humanity,  to  correct  such  a  purely  formal  compliance  with 
the  law. 

In  sympathetic  response  to  this  view,  with  an  affirmative  attitude 
characteristic  of  this  administration,  which  rather  does  what  plainly 
ought  to  be  done  than  leaves  it  undone  because  of  lack  of  express 
legislative  provision,  the  Secretary  of  Labor,  the  Hon.  William  B. 
Wilson,  first  directed  the  inauguration  of  a  plan  for  the  education 
of  declarants  for  citizenship  by  the  public  schools  of  the  States,  with 
the  aid  and  cooperation  of  the  Federal  Naturalization  Service,  so  as 
to  fit  them  for  American  citizenship. 

Accordingly  about  last  September  this  plan  began  to  bear  fruit 
for  the  first  time,  and  we  began  to  have  night  schools  for  aliens,  and 
these  people  began  to  discover  that  here  was  a  country  in  which,  far 
from  denying  them  education  or  charging  them  for  an  education,  we 
were  ready  to  go  into  the  highways  and  byways  to  bring  them  in  and 
to  give  them  an  education — an  education  that  is  given  them  on  the 
same  basis  as  it  is  given  to  American  citizens — to  fit  them  to  become 
citizens. 

Now,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  that  feeling,  that  spirit,  has  culminated 
in  our  gathering  here,  a  gathering  of  public-school  educators  of  the 
States,  presided  over  by  the  Bureau  of  Naturalization,  a  meeting  of 
educators  that  directs  itself  with  respect  to  its  consideration  of  the 
system  of  training  to  be  adopted.  They  are  experts  and  know  what 
they  need ;  they  are  real  educators ;  they  should  devise  the  textbooks. 
By  reason  of  the  fact  that  when  we  make  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States  we  also  make  a  citizen  of  the  State,  the  State  government  is 
affected  for  weal  or  for  woe  far  more  by  his  admission  than  the  Fed- 
eral Government,  and  for  the  State's  protection  the  bureau  asks  but 
one  thing,  and  that  is  that  he  be  taught  the  fundamentals  of  our 
Government  of  liberty  and  justice.  What  the  public  schools  are  most 
needed  for  is  to  teach  the  alien  student  that  true  love  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Constitution  is  not  a  selfish  love,  and  not  simply  to  teach 
that  those  principles  secure  him  in  the  enjoyment  of  certain  rights. 
Such  a  love  is  as  reluctant  to  violate  those  principles  in  its  own  behalf 
as  to  see  them  violated  in  behalf  of  anyone  else. 

Among  those  who  have  come  from  that  "  far  country "  of  self- 
service  back  to  their  native  home,  the  home  of  the  spirit,  to  that  coun- 
try in  which  we  are  told  the  rule  of  service  is  "he  that  would  be 


52  PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST  CITIZENSHIP   CONVENTION. 

greatest  among  you,  let  him  be  your  servant,"  few  have  returned  so 
completely  as  our  President,  the  servant  of  us  all,  whom  I  now  have 
the  honor  to  present  to  you. 

ADDRESS  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON. 

Mr.  CHAIRMAN,  LADIES,  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  I  have  come  here  for  the 
simple  purpose  of  expressing  my  very  deep  interest  in  what  these 
conferences  are  intendel  to  attain.  It  is  not  fair  to  the  great  multi- 
tudes of  hopeful  men  and  women  who  press  into  this  country  from 
other  countries  that  we  should  leave  them  without  that  friendly  and 
intimate  instruction  which  will  enable  them  very  soon  after  they 
come  to  find  out  what  America  is  like  at  heart  and  what  America 
is  intended  for  among  the  nations  of  the  world. 

I  believe  that  the  chief  school  that  these  people  must  attend  after 
they  get  here  is  the  school  which  all  of  us  attend,  which  is  furnished 
by  the  life  of  the  communities  in  which  we  live  and  the  Nation  to 
which  we  belong.  It  has  been  a  very  touching  thought  to  me  some- 
times to  think  of  the  hopes  which  have  drawn  these  people  to 
America.  I  have  no  doubt  that  many  a  simple  soul  has  been  thrilled 
by  that  great  statue  standing  in  the  harbor  of  New  York  and  seem- 
ing to  lift  the  light  of  liberty  for  the  guidance  of  the  feet  of  men; 
and  I  can  imagine  that  they  have  expected  here  something  ideal  in 
the  treatment  that  they  will  receive,  something  ideal  in  the  laws 
which  they  would  have  to  live  under,  and  it  has  caused  me  many  a 
time  to  turn  upon  myself  the  eye  of  examination  to  see  whether  there 
burned  in  me  the  true  light  of  the  American  spirit  which  they  ex- 
pected to  find  here.  It  is  easy,  my  fellow  citizens,  to  communicate 
physical  lessons,  but  it  is  very  difficult  to  communicate  spiritual 
lessons.  America  was  intended  to  be  a  spirit  among  the  nations  of 
the  world,  and  it  is  the  purpose  of  conferences  like  this  to  find  out 
the  best  way  to  introduce  the  newcomers  to  this  spirit,  and  by  that 
very  interest  in  them  to  enhance  and  purify  in  ourselves  the  thing 
that  ought  to  make  America  great  and  not  only  ought  to  make  her 
great,  but  ought  to  make  her  exhibit  a  spirit  unlike  any  other  nation 
in  the  world. 

I  have  never  been  among  those  who  felt  comfortable  in  boasting 
of  the  superiority  of  America  over  other  countries.  The  way  to 
cure  yourself  of  that  is  to  travel  in  other  countries  and  find  out 
how  much  of  nobility  and  character  and  fine  enterprise  there  is 
everywhere  in  the  world.  The  most  that  America  can  hope  to  do 
is  to  show,  it  may  be,  the  finest  example,  not  the  only  example,  of 
the  things  that  ought  to  benefit  and  promote  the  progress  of  the 
world. 

So  my  interest  in  this  movement  is  as  much  an  interest  in  our- 
selves as  in  those  whom  we  are  trying  to  Americanize,  because  if 
we  are  genuine  Americans  they  can  not  avoid  the  infection;  whereas 
if  we  are  not  genuine  Americans,  there  will  be  nothing  to  infect 
them  with,  and  no  amount  of  teaching,  no  amount  of  exposition  of 
the  Constitution — which  I  find  very  few  persons  understand — no 
amount  of  dwelling  upon  the  idea  of  liberty  and  of  justice  will  ac- 
complish the  object  we  have  in  view,  unless  we  ourselves  illustrate 
the  idea  of  justice  and  of  liberty.  My  interest  in  this  movement  is, 


PEOCEEDINGS  OF  FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION.  53 

therefore,  a  twofold  interest.  I  believe  it  will  assist  us  to  become 
self-conscious  in  respect  of  the  fundamental  ideas  of  American  life. 
When  you  ask  a  man  to  be  loyal  to  a  government,  if  he  comes 
from  some  foreign  countries,  his  idea  is  that  he  is  expected  to  be 
loyal  to  a  certain  set  of  persons  like  a  ruler  or  a  body  set  in  authority 
over  him,  but  that  is  not  the  American  idea.  Our  idea  is  that  he 
is  to  be  loyal  to  certain  objects  in  life,  and  that  the  only  reason  he 
has  a  President  and  a  Congress  and  a  governor  and  a  State  legisla- 
ture and  courts  is  that  the  community  shall  have  instrumentalities 
by  which  to  promote  those  objects.  It  is  a  cooperative  organization 
expressing  itself  in  this  Constitution,  expressing  itself  in  these  laws, 
intending  to  express  itself  in  the  exposition  of  those  laws  by  the 
courts;  and  the  idea  of  America  is  not  so  much  that  men  are  to 
be  restrained  and  punished  by  the  law  as  instructed  and  guided  by 
the  law.  That  is  the  reason  so  many  hopeful  reforms  come  to 
grief.  A  law  can  not  work  until  it  expresses  the  spirit  of  the  com- 
munity for  which  it  is  enacted,  and  if  you  try  to  enact  into  law 
what  expresses  only  the  spirit  of  a  small  coterie  or  of  a  small  mi- 
nority, you  know,  or  at  any  rate  you  ought  to  know,  beforehand 
that  it  is  not  going  to  work.  The  object  of  the  law  is  that  there, 
written  upon  these  pages,  the  citizen  should  read  the  record  of  the 
experience  of  this  State  and  Nation;  what  they  have  concluded  it  is 
necessary  for  them  to  do  because  of  the  life  they  have  lived  and 
the  things  that  they  have  discovered  to  be  elements  in  that  life. 
So  that  we  ought  to  be  careful  to  maintain  a  government  at  which 
the  immigrant  can  look  with  the  closest  scrutiny  and  to  which  he 
should  be  at  liberty  to  address  this  question :  "  You  declare  this  to 
be  a  land  of  liberty  and  of  equality  and  of  justice;  have  you  made 
it  so  by  your  law  ?  "  We  ought  to  be  able  in  our  schools,  in  our 
night  schools,  and  in  every  other  method  of  instructing  these  people, 
to  show  them  that  that  has  been  our  endeavor.  We  can  not  conceal 
from  them  long  the  fact  that  we  are  just  as  human  as  any  other 
nation,  that  we  are  just  as  selfish,  that  there  are  just  as  many  mean 
people  amongst  us  as  anywhere  else,  that  there  are  just  as  many 
people  here  who  want  to  take  advantage  of  other  people  as  you  can 
find  in  other  countries,  just  as  many  cruel  people,  just  as  many 
people  heartless  when  it  comes  to  maintaining  and  promoting  their 
own  interest;  but  you  can  show  that  our  object  is  to  get  these  people 
in  harness  and  see  to  it  that  they  do  not  do  any  damage  and  are  not 
allowed  to  indulge  the  passions  which  would  bring  injustice  and 
calamity  at  last  upon  a  nation  whose  object  is  spiritual  and  not  ma- 
terial. 

America  has  built  up  a  great  body  of  wealth.  America  has  become, 
'from  the  physical  point  of  view,  one  of  the  most  powerful  nations 
in  the  world,  a  nation  which,  if  it  took  the  pains  to  do  so,  could  build 
that  power  up  into  one  of  the  most  formidable  instruments  in  the 
world,  one  of  the  most  formidable  instruments  of  force,  but  which 
has  no  other  idea  than  to  use  its  force  for  ideal  objects  and  not  for 
self-aggrandizement. 

We  have  been  disturbed  recently,  my  fellow  citizens,  by  certain 
symptoms  which  have  showed  themselves  in  our  body  politic.  Cer- 
tain men — I  have  never  believed  a  great  number — born  in  other 
lands,  have  in  recent  months  thought  more  of  those  lands  than  they 
have  of  the  honor  and  interest  of  the  Government  under  which  they 


54  PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

are  now  living.  They  have  even  gone  so  far  as  to  draw  apart  in  spirit 
and  in  organization  from  the  rest  of  us  to  accomplish  some  special 
object  of  their  own.  I  am  not  here  going  to  utter  any  criticism  of 
these  people,  but  I  want  to  say  this,  that  such  a  thing  as  that  is  abso- 
lutely incompatible  with  the  fundamental  idea  of  loyalty,  and  that 
loyalty  is  not  a  self-pleasing  virtue.  I  am  not  bound  to  be  loyal  to 
the  United  States  to  please  myself.  I  am  bound  to  be  loyal  to  the 
United  States  because  I  live  under  its  laws  and  am  its  citizen,  and 
whether  it  hurts  me  or  whether  it  benefits  me  I  am  obliged  to  be 
loyal.  Loyalty  means  nothing  unless  it  has  at  its  heart  the  absolute 
principle  of  self-sacrifice.  Loyalty  means  that  you  ought  to  be  ready 
to  sacrifice  every  interest  that  you  have,  and  your  life  itself,  if  your 
country  calls  upon  you  to  do  so,  and  that  is  the  sort  of  loyalty  which 
ought  to  be  inculcated  into  these  newcomers,  that  they  are  not  to  be 
loyal  only  so  long  as  they  are  pleased,  but  that,  having  once  entered 
into  this  sacred  relationship,  they  are  bound  to  be  loyal  whether  they 
are  pleased  or  not ;  and  that  loyalty  which  is  merely  self -pleasing  is 
only  self-indulgence  and  selfishness.  No  man  has  ever  risen  to  the 
real  stature  of  spiritual  manhood  until  he  has  found  that  it  is  finer 
to  serve  somebody  else  than  it  is  to  serve  himself. 

These  are  the  conceptions  which  we  ought  to  teach  the  newcomers 
into  our  midst,  and  we  ought  to  realize  that  the  life  of  every  one  of 
us  is  part  of  the  schooling,  and  that  we  can  not  preach  loyalty  unless 
we  set  the  example;  that  we  can  not  profess  things  with  any  in- 
fluence upon  others  unless  we  practice  them  also.  This  process 
of  Americanization  is  going  to  be  a  process  of  self-examination,  a 
process  of  purification,  a  process  of  rededication  to  the  things  which 
America  represents  and  is  proud  to  represent.  And  it  takes  a  great 
deal  more  courage  and  steadfastness,  my  fellow  citizens,  to  repre- 
sent ideal  things  than  to  represent  anything  else.  It  is  easy  to  lose 
your  temper,  and  hard  to  keep  it.  It  is  easy  to  strike  and  some- 
times very  difficult  to  refrain  from  striking,  and  I  think  you  will 
agree  with  me  that  we  are  most  justified  in  being  proud  of  doing 
the  things  that  are  hard  to  do  and  not  the  things  that  are  easy. 
You  do  not  settle  things  quickly  by  taking  what  seems  to  be  the 
quickest  way  to  settle  them.  You  may  make  the  complication  just 
that  much  the  more  profound  and  inextricable,  and,  therefore,  what 
I  believe  America  should  exalt  above  everything  else  is  the 
sovereignty  of  thoughtfulness  and  sympathy  and  vision  as  against 
the  grosser  impulses  of  mankind.  No  nation  can  live  without  vision, 
and  no  vision  will  exalt  a  nation  except  the  vision  of  real  liberty  and 
real  justice  and  purity  of  conduct. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  To-day  has  witnessed  the  second  occasion  on 
which  the  President  of  the  United  States  has  dignified  the  work  of  the 
Bureau  of  Naturalization  in  making  American  citizens  out  of  the 
raw  material  coming  to  our  shores  from  other  countries.  In  Phila- 
delphia, on  May  10,  1915,  at  a  reception  proposed  by  the  Bureau 
of  Naturalization  to  the  mayor  of  that  city,  the  President  gave  his 
first  official  recognition  of  this  work  of  the  Department  of  Labor, 
at  the  joint  invitation  of  Secretary  Wilson  and  Mayor  Blanken- 


PROCEEDINGS   OP   FIRST   CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION.  55 

burg.     We  have  been  most  fortunate  to-day  in  having  the  inspiration 
I  of  his  presence  and  remarks. 

Last  August  your  chairman  visited  Portland,  Oreg.,  where  he 
discussed  this  proposed  cooperative  work,  which  has  since  become 
I  a  vivid  reality,  with  the  superintendent  of  schools  of  that  city. 
Superintendent  Alderman  showed  great  familiarity  with  the  sub- 
ject of  citizenship  instruction  and  said,  "  The  public  schools  of 
Portland,  Oreg.,  shall  cooperate  with  the  Bureau  of  Naturalization. 
How  soon  can  we  get  the  names  of  the  candidates  for  citizenship 
living  in  Portland,  Oreg.?  We  open  our  schools  on  October  1." 
"  You  will  be  able  to  get  the  names  by  that  time  if  that  will  be 
early  enough."  "I  want  them  at  once  if  possible."  In  order  that 
the  East  might  not  be  entirely  outdone  by  the  rapidly  moving  West, 
your  chairman  responded  with  something  like  this :  "  I  will  send  a 
telegram  to  Washington  that  will  start  the  names  to  you  by  to- 
morrow evening,  if  that  will  be  soon  enough."  "  That  is  just  what 
I  want,"  said  Mr.  Alderman.  Since  then  the  public  schools  under 
his  direction  in  that  city  have  been  doing  a  great  work  in  Ameri- 
canizing the  foreigner,  and  something  of  this  Mr.  Alderman  will 
now  tell  you. 

ADDRESS  OF  L.  R.  ALDERMAN,  SUPERINTENDENT  OF  SCHOOLS, 

PORTLAND,  OREG. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  First  of  all,  I  wish  to  thank  the  men  who 
built  the  program  for  giving  me  such  an  important  place.  It  isn't 
everybody  who  has  an  opportunity  to  follow  the  President  of  the 
United  States. 

I  certainly  have  enjoyed  these  conferences,  and  I  appreciate  the 
opportunity  of  telling  you  what  Portland  is  doing  in  the  work  of 
making  citizens  out  of  foreigners.  We  feel  the  value  of  the  cooper- 
ation the  Bureau  of  Naturalization  gives,  as  the  foreigners  come  to 
us  believing  that  through  the  schools  they  may  find  the  best  way  into 
citizenship.  They  come  to  us  fully  believing  that  we  will  work  for 
their  interests.  The  appreciation  they  show  makes  it  a  pleasure  to 
teach  them. 

I  shall  first  speak  to  you  about  the  teaching  of  foreign  children  in 
the  regular  day  school.  Let  us  not  forget  that  it  is  the  public  schools 
throughout  the  country  that  have  made  our  form  of  government 
possible.  Only  a  few  months  after  a  foreign  family  arrives  in  this 
country  and  the  children  have  entered  the  public  schools  the  children 
will  be  teaching  the  parents,  and  soon  the  foreign  family  is  an 
American  family  in  harmony  with  American  ideals. 

We  have  one  feature  in  the  Portland  schools  that  I' wish  to  specially 
call  to  your  attention,  thinking  that  it  may  be  of  some  value;  it  is  the 
plan  of  having  the  teacher  promoted  with  her  class.  If  there  is  any- 
body who  needs  a  second  mother,  who  needs  a  real  friend,  and  who 
does  appreciate  a  real  friend,  it  is  the  little  foreign-born  boy  or  girl. 
Any  system  of  schools  that  changes  a  teacher  every  few  months  for 
foreign  pupils,  or  for  our  native  pupils  either,  in  my  judgment  is  a 


56  PROCEEDINGS   OF  FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

poor  system.  Children  need  to  have  somebody  who  is  interested  in 
them,  somebody  that  they  know,  somebody  to  whom  they  can  go  and 
tell  their  troubles,  to  whom  they  can  go  for  a  little  bit  of  inspiration, 
the  ideal  that  the  President  spoke  about. 

The  lawgiver  and  the  courts,  so  far  as  those  pupils  are  concerned, 
is  their  teacher — such  a  teacher  as  Mary  Antin  had,  the  teacher  that 
is  their  best  friend,  the  teacher  that  is  there  in  spirit  to  guide  and  to 
counsel  them. 

Three  and  a  half  years  ago  in  one  of  our  schools  in  which  we  have 
20  different  nationalities  there  was  a  class  of  38  foreign  children. 
I  suppose  that  not  one  of  those  children  had  ever  thought  of  going 
on  to  a  higher  school.  The  teacher-  became  very  well  acquainted 
with  all  of  them.  She  made  them  see  that  if  they  wanted  to  reach 
the  highest  things  in  life  they  should  be  thoroughly  trained  for  life, 
und  she  spoke  to  them  of  the  opportunities  that  are  all  around  and 
told  them  that  the  door  to  those  opportunities  is  the  high  school. 
She  visited  the  homes  of  those  children.  She  made  the  father  and 
the  mother  believe  that  Jacob  and  Rosa  were  priceless,  that  they 
were  worth  educating.  She  made  them  believe  that  the  whole 
American  Government  was  interested  in  Jacob  and  Rosa.  As  a 
result  of  three  years  of  that  kind  of  teaching,  of  that  personal  teach- 
ing, of  that  personal  interest,  last  February  the  class  of  38  graduated 
without  a  failure.  (One  pupil  had  moved  away  during  the  three 
years  and  one  had  come  in.)  Thirty-four  of  the  number  went  imme- 
diately to  high  school.  The  other  four  called  upon  their  godmother, 
their  teacher,  their  spiritual  lawgiver;  they  called  upon  her  every 
week  during  the  last  part  of  this  year  and  told  her  how  they  were 
getting  along  in  the  way  of  earning  funds  so  that  they  might  go  to 
high  school  this  fall. 

It  seems  to  me  that  that  is  the  proof  of  the  pudding.  Some  one  is 
there  to  guide  and  help,  some  one  who  knows,  and  they  come  to  these 
teachers  that  they  know  with  all  their  troubles. 

We  had  one  boy,  Bert  Triger,  who  completed  the  entire,  grade- 
school  course  in  two  years.  Bert  had  had  very  little  training  in 
Russia  and  was  17  years  of  age  when  he  landed  in  Portland,  but  so 
keen  was  his  interest  in  securing  an  education  that  he  would  do  all 
the  work  assigned  besides  earning  his  own  way  by  working  in  a 
bakery  from  2  in  the  morning  until  7.  He  did  four  years'  work  in 
one  for  two  successive  years  and  is  now  in  the  Lincoln  High  School, 
getting  honor  marks  in  everything  save  English  and  getting  good 
passing  marks  in  English. 

The  other  part  of  our  work  of  Americanization  is_in-thte  night 
schools.  Our  night  schools  have  grown  from  an  enrollment  of  1,800 
three  years  ago  to  over  6,000  this  year.  Our  people  are  learning 
that  there  is  a  new  psychology  in  the  land.  The  new  psychology 
tells  us  that  the  adult  learns  faster  than  the  adolescent.  There  is 
not  one  in  this  hall  to-day  who  can  not  learn  faster  now  than  ever 
before  in  his  or  her  life.  As  time  goes  on  I  look  to  see  all  our 
schoolhouses  filled  with  our  grown  people. 

So  our  night  schools  have  been  growing  very  rapidly,  and  in  those 
night  schools  we  have  a  large  number  of  foreigners.  In  one  school 
we  have  none  but  foreigners,  and  we  call  it  the  Americanization 
school.  We  have  taken  pains  in  selecting  teachers  who  would  be  the 
best  friends  to  these  foreigners,  and  these  foreigners  are  the  most 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION.  57 

appreciative  people  that  we  have  in  the  city.  In  this  school  the  last 
year  there  were  26  nationalities  represented.  My  imagination  was 
fired  with  the  hope  that  sometime  we  would  have  universal  peace  the 
world  over,  because  I  saw  a  Frenchman  helping  his  German  brother 
to  work  problems;  I  saw  Russians  teaching  the  French  and  the 
Germans;  and  I  saw  Germans  teaching  the  French  and  the  Rus- 
sians— 26  nationalities  working  like  brothers — and  the  most  beauti- 
ful part  to  me  was  the  employment  bureau  that  we  had  in  connection 
with  that  school.  We  found  Germans  finding  positions  for  their 
French  and  Russian  brothers.  They  would  go  out  of  their  way  in 
order  to  find  positions  for  some  one  else.  When  you  think  of  it,  you 
see  that  a  night  school  can  be  made  one  of  the  best  employment 
bureaus  in  the  country.  I  recommend  the  employment  bureau  to 
every  night-school  teacher.  You  will  find  that  the  students  appre- 
ciate any  help  they  can  get  and  come  to  feel  more  and  more  that  the 
school  is  their  best  friend. 

It  is  absolutely  delightful  to  hear  people  of  all  these  nationalities 
sing  "America  "  without  any  book.  I  wonder  if  I  dare — I  won't 
attempt — to  ask  all  of  you  to  give  the  preamble  to  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  without  any  notes  whatever.  I  wonder  if  I 
dare.  I  see  frowns  and  I  see  shaking  of  heads.  And  the  preamble 
to  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  to  tell  about  the  laws  and 
customs  of  our  people.  Whenever  I  became  blue,  thinking  of  a 
world  at  war,  I  went  up  to  our  Americanization  school  and  all  the 
blues  left  me,  because  there  I  could  see  the  solution  of  our  diffi- 
culties— the  brotherhood  of  man. 

Yesterday  I  was  out  on  the  green  watching  some  of  our  soldiers 
go  through  their  maneuvers  and  I  thought  of  poor  little  old  Mexico. 
1  thought  that  what  the  Mexicans  need  is  not  bayonet  thrusts.  What 
they  need  is  about  5,000  American  teachers  to  go  down  into  Mexico. 
I  believe  it  is  necessary  to  prepare,  but  just  think  what  a  few 
thousand  teachers  down  in  Mexico  could  do.  A  hundred  and  seventy 
million  dollars  spent  for  preparedness — it  was  necessary.  But  ten 
millions  spent  in  the  way  of  sending  American  teachers  to  the 
Mexicans  would  prepare  not  only  us  but  them,  and  the  brotherhood 
of  man  would  be  more  nearly  accomplished.  We  have  a  wonderful 
opportunity  in  teaching  our  foreigner,  as  the  President  so  well  said. 
The  reaction  upon  us  is  the  reaction  of  refinement,  the  reaction  that 
makes  us  loyal,  that  makes  us  better  citizens.  I  have  not  seen  more 
spiritually  lighted  faces  since  I  have  been  in  school  work  than  in 
some  of  these  schoolrooms  where  our  teachers  are  serving  and  help- 
ing our  brother,  the  foreigner. 

I  thank  God  I  am  in  school  work,  and  thank  God  I  am  in  a  place 
where  it  is  possible  for  me  to  serve.  I  thank  God  I  am  in  a  place 
where  it  is  possible  for  us  to  extend  the  hand  of  fellowship  to  our 
foreigners — our  citizens  to  be — from  every  country  in  the  world. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  The  next  speaker  on  the  program,  Hon.  Wil- 
liam B.  Wilson,  Secretary  of  Labor,  has  been  unavoidably  detained  in 
the  West  upon  business  which  has  prevented  his  return  to  the  city.  It 
is  hoped,  however,  that  he  will  be  with  us  to-morrow,  as  this  work  had 
its  origin  as  a  definite  plan  under  the  administration  of  Secretary 


58  PBOCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

Wilson.  It  was  discussed  from  time  to  time  prior  to  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Department  of  Labor,  in  the  then  Division  of  Naturaliza- 
tion, but  nothing  definite  occurred ;  no  plan  of  action  was  considered 
or  even  thought  of.  It  remained  until  in  April,  1914,  under  the 
administration  of  Secretary  Wilson,  for  the  first  definite  step  toward 
what  has  since  grown  to  be  an  undertaking  of  national  scope  to  be 
inaugurated. 

It  is  due,  therefore,  that  it  should  be  known  to  you  that  this  work 
had  its  origin  under  the  administration  of  the  first  Secretary  of 
Labor. 


FRIDAY,  JULY  14. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  I  have  very  great  pleasure  this  morning  in 
introducing  one  who  is  interested  in  the  administration  of  the  natu- 
ralization law.  This  morning  we  are  to  hear  from  the  judiciary  in 
the  person  of  Mr.  Justice  Frederick  L.  Siddons,  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  District  of  Columbia.  Justice  Siddons  can  speak  from  the 
administrative  as  well  as  from  the  judicial  viewpoint,  for,  as  we  here 
in  Washington  know,  he  w,as  previous  to  his  service  upon  the  bench 
chosen  to  be  one  of  the  District  Commissioners  to  preside  over  the 
administrative  affairs  of  the  city  of  Washington.  We  are  especially 
favored  this  morning  in  having  with  us  Justice  Siddons,  and  I  take 
pleasure  now  in  presenting  him  to  you. 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  JUSTICE  FREDERICK  L.  SIDDONS. 

A  decade  has  just  been  completed  since  Congress,  responding  to  a 
demand  of  .the  country  that  the  process  of  conferring  citizenship  by 
naturalization  be  made  more  comprehensive  and  thorough  than  there- 
tofore, enacted  the  law  of  June  29,  1906.  By  its  provisions  and  those 
of  amendatory  acts  the  process  insures  an  investigation  of  applicants 
and  applications  never  before  attempted,  and  the  old  abuses  attending 
naturalization  have  been  made  extremely  difficult  to  repeat,  if  not 
impossible.  The  details  of  procedure  ar<3  now  fairly  well  under- 
stood by  the  various  officials.  Federal  and  State,  charged  with  the 
execution  and  enforcement  of  the  law  and  regulations.  And  if  their 
requirements  were  all  that  were  necessary  to  make,  in  very  truth, 
American  citizens  of  the  scores  of  thousands  of  aliens  who  year  after 
year  seek  a  shelter  and  a  home  on  our  shores,  the  problem  might  well 
now  be  left  to  the  mere  orderly  processes  of  administration  and 
judicial  action. 

But  from  a  variety  of  causes,  of  the  nature  and  extent  of  which 
time  permits  no  enumeration  or  consideration,  we  have  come  to 
realize  that  a  decree  of  naturalization,  while  in  law  converting  an 
alien  into  an  American  citizen,  falls  very  far  short  in  a  large  num- 
ber of  cases  of  accomplishing  the  purpose  in  fact.  A  recognition  of 
this  truth  has  led  at  last  to  a  candid  examination  of  the  reasons  for 
it.  There  are  several,  but  perhaps  all  may  be  summed  up  in  the 
statement  that  we  have  not  in  the  past  insisted  enough  upon  an  edu- 
cation in  American  citizenship.  This  has  been  true  in  a  large  meas- 
ure even  in  the  case  of  the  native  born.  It  has  been  almost  altogether 
true  with  respect  to  the  foreign  born.  In  the  past  we  have  concluded, 
rather  nonchalantly,  that  once  a  foreigner  begins  to  breathe  the  air 
of  America  he  sheds  his  foreign  characteristics,  the  influence  of  his 

69 


60  PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIBST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

old  environment,  and  thenceforth  knows  but  one  country,  and  that 
the  one  he  has  adopted.  The  experience  of  the  last  quarter  of  a 
century  has  served  to  correct  this  old  error,  but  its  persistence  for  too 
long  a  time  makes  the  task  of  correcting  some  of  its  more  serious 
consequences  no  light  one.  But  we  have  set  about  it  in  all  earnest- 
ness, and  the  country  is  indebted  to  the  enlightened  zeal  of  the  heads 
of,  first,  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  and  later  and  now 
the  Department  of  Labor,  who  have  given  and  now  give  to  the  able 
Commissioner  of  Naturalization  and  his  intelligent  assistants  a 
hearty  support  in  the  great  work  in  which  they  are  engaged,  of 
spreading  the  gospel  of  American  citizenship  to  our  foreign-born 
population.  And  this  gathering  is  an  evidence  of  the  appreciation 
of  educators  in  the  value  and  fundamental  character  of  the  work  of 
the  bureau  in  giving  vitality  and  color  to  the  cold  processes  of  laws 
that  are  designed  to  convert  the  alien  into  a  citizen  of  the  Republic. 

But  in  the  final  analysis  the  responsibility  of  securing  great  and 
enduring  results  in  this  undertaking  lies  with  the  teachers  of  the 
country.  Administrative  officials  can  do  much,  judges  can  do  much, 
but  their  efforts  will  be  in  vain  unless  they  can  have  that  cordial  co- 
operation that  the  teachers  alone  can  give.  You  are  here  to  consider 
the  ways  and  means  by  which  that  cooperation  can  most  effectively 
be  given.  It  is  not  my  function  to  deal  with  the  details  of  the  work 
that  lies  before  you.  That  is  in  more  competent  hands,  but  I  will 
venture,  in  a  very  few  words,  to  submit  for  your  consideration  some 
general  observations  that  may  have  a  little  value  in  determining  upon 
a  curriculum  for  a  course  of  instruction  in  American  citizenship  in- 
tended for  those  who  desire  to  enroll  themselves  on  the  register  of 
the  Republic. 

A  few  years  ago  there  was  produced  on  the  American  stage  a  play 
called  "The  melting  pot."  Its  motif  was  to  convince  its  audiences 
that  the  United  States  was  a  great  crucible  in  which  were  placed 
ingredients  in  the  form  of  the  heterogeneous  peoples  that  come  from 
all  parts  of  the  world,  and  there  resulted  from  its  processes  a  homo- 
geneous people  possessing  all  of  the  best  characteristics  of  those 
whose  fusion  was  thus  accomplished. 

Was  it  a  correct  picture  ?  Is  the  merging  of  the  races  and  peoples 
that  have  come  to  swell  our  population  so  complete  that  the  thought 
and  conduct,  social  and  political,  of  all  of  them  is  so  directed  that 
America,  and  America  only,  receives  their  unqualified  and  undivided 
allegiance  ?  Or  are  there  some  who,  though  living  here  and  claiming 
American  citizenship,  reserve  their  best  thoughts  and  highest  hopes 
for  the  countries  that  they  left,  and  emperors  and  kings  still  in  fact 
retain  the  allegiance  which  these,  their  subjects,  foreswore  when  they 
applied  for  admission  to  citizenship  here? 

Twenty  years  ago  an  American  President  handed  to  the  diplomatic 
representative  of  a  great  nation  his  passports  because  he  had  assumed 
to  advise  one  who  claimed  nativity  in  the  country  which  he  repre- 
sented here  how  he  should  cast  his  ballot  in  a  presidential  election 
then  impending  with  the  best  results,  not  to  the  country  of  his  adop- 
tion but  to  the  country  of  his  nativity.  And  we  could  cite  other 
episodes  in  the  country's  history  where  even  more  direct  appeals  were 
made  to  foreign-born  citizens  to  act  here  in  a  manner  best  calculated 
to  advance  the  interests  of  the  countries  whence  they  came.  Do  not 
incidents  such  as  these  show  that  there  is  yet  much  to  learn  as  to 


PKOCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION.  61 

the  meaning  and  significance  of  American  citizenship,  its  duties  and 
responsibilities  ? 

But  the  fault  is  largely  our  own  that  such  things  are  true,  for  we 
have  not  insisted  enough  on  the  obligations  of  citizenship.  We  have 
the  right  to  claim,  and  we  should  demand,  that  the  country  which 
affords  shelter,  home,  and  protection  to  its  people  is  entitled  at  all 
times  and  under  all  circumstances  to  their  undivided  allegiance. 
What  more,  after  all,  is  there  in  the  relation  of  a  man  to  his  country, 
his  government,  and  to  his  fellow  citizens  than  reciprocity  in  its  best 
and  largest  sense?  Can  we  hope  for  a  happy  issue  of  life  in  the 
United  States  if  we  are  to  permit  to  be  rekindled  within  its  borders 
the  embers  of  old  national  and  racial  animosities  that  should  have 
been  left  behind  by  those  who  have  sought  and  found  homes  in 
America?  To  do  so  is  to  cherish  not  affection  for  America  and 
American  institutions,  upon  which  alone  it  can  build,  but  hatred  for 
other  countries  and  for  their  sons  and  daughters  who  now  form  so 
large  a  part  of  our  population. 

There  are  myriads  of  newly  made  graves  on  a  hundred  battle  fields 
of  Europe,  to  which  the  thoughts  and  memories  of  many  thousands 
of  our  people  turn  to-day.  Shall  there  be  erected  over  these  graves 
altars  dedicated  to  national  hatreds,  or  shall  they  rather  be  conse- 
crated to  a  larger  life  for  the  children  of  those  who  quietly  sleep  after 
the  rack  and  pain  that  they  endured  in  their  last  days  and  hours — 
a  life  in  which  the  divine  doctrine  of  the  fatherhood  of  God  and 
the  brotherhood  of  man  shall  be  realized  ? 

And  what  may  not  American  citizenship,  rightly  understood,  do 
for  such  a  cause? 

It  will  not,  however,  be  enough  to  teach  the  text  of  constitutions, 
the  form  and  frame  of  Federal,  State,  and  municipal  governments, 
but  we  must  go  deeper  and  seek  to  vitalize  and  visualize  the  spirit 
of  liberty.  We  must  interpret  for  our  pupils  the  rich  meaning  and 
significance  of  those  never-to-be-forgotten  words  that  "  We  hold  these 
truths  to  be  self-evident,  that  all  men  are  created  equal;  that  they 
are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  unalienable  rights;  that 
among  these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness;  that  to 
secure  these  rights  governments  are  instituted  among  men,  deriving 
their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed;  that  whenever 
any  form  of  government  becomes  destructive  of  these  ends  it  is  the 
right  of  the  people  to  alter  or  abolish  it,  and  to  institute  new  govern- 
ment, laying  its  foundation  on  such  principles  and  organizing  its 
powers  in  such  form  as  to  them  shall  seem  most  likely  to  effect  their 
safety  and  happiness." 

,  And  if  we  do  this  with  the  solemn  consciousness  of  the  great 
responsibility  that  is  ours  in  this  matter  we  shall  produce  in  good 
time  a  homogeneous  people  that  will  present  a  combination  of  the 
virtues,  traditions,  and  finer  principles  of  world  civilizations,  deep 
rooted  in  the  free  and  fertile  soil  of  America  and  nourished  by  an 
unselfish  love  of  a  liberty  that  looks  out  upon  the  whole  wide  world 
and  salutes  its  teeming  millions  as  "brethern." 

Let  us  all  resolve,  you  teachers,  you  administrative  officials,  we 
judges,  to  join  hands  in  a  compact  that  each  will  do  his  very  best  in 
the  great  and  noble  task  of  developing  the  ideal  American  citizen- 
ship. 


62  PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST   CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  About  a  year  and  a  half  ago  I  met  the  mayor 
of  one  of  the  largest  American  cities.  We  were  talking  about  citizen- 
ship matters  and  he  said  to  me,  "Mr.  Crist,  I  think  I  am  a  better 
American  citizen  than  you.  You  were  born  here  in  this  country  and 
I  am  a  naturalized  American  citizen,  but  I  feel  that  I  am  better 
than  any  who  were  born  here,  because  I  chose  to  be  an  American 
citizen." 

We  here  in  Washington  who  have  had  the  pleasure  of  knowing 
Justice  Siddons  in  the  time  that  he  has  been  here  feel  that  that  may 
well  be  said  of  him,  and  that  we  who  are  of  native  birth  will  have  a 
great  example  in  characters  such  as  Justice  Siddons,  Mayor  Blanken- 
burg,  and  others  who  are  striving  to  better  our  American  citizenship. 

The  next  speaker  on  the  program  is  Mr.  M.  J.  Downey,  of  Boston. 
Mr.  Downey  is  the  assistant  director  of  the  Evening  and  Continua- 
tion Schools  of  Boston.  While  Boston  is  considered  very  con- 
servative in  so  many  matters,  I  found  in  that  city  last  fall  an  intense 
enthusiasm  regarding  the  education  of  the  immigrant.  Boston  feels 
that  it  is  in  the  vanguard  of  this  work,  and  I  am  sure  that  Mr. 
Downey  will  bring  to  you  a  message  of  value.  I  do  not  know,  but 
it  may  be  that  Boston  can  give  you  something  that  is  brand-new. 
I  am  sure  that  the  spirit  that  actuates  them  there  means  the  attain- 
ment of  the  best  citizenship  in  Boston  and  in  Massachusetts  and 
extending  from  there  throughout  the  country. 

Mr.  Downey  will  speak  on  "  What  Boston  is  doing  in  immigrant 
education." 

ADDRESS  OF  M.  J.  DOWNEY,  ASSISTANT  DIRECTOR  OF  EVENING 
AND  CONTINUATION  SCHOOLS,  BOSTON. 

As  Mr.  Crist  has  said  to  you,  Boston  is  considered  very  conservative 
in  all  matters  and  especially  in  the  educational  matters.  Boston  is 
naturally  very  modest,  and  it  seems  to  prefer  to  do  things  rather  than 
talk  about  them,  but  I  am  one  of  those  in  Boston  who  believes  that  we 
should  not  hide  our  light  under  a  bushel,  and  I  am  very  glad  to  have 
this  opportunity  of  coming  here  to-day  to  tell  you  folks  some  of  the 
things  that  perhaps  are  not  being  done  elsewhere  in  the  country,  some 
of  the  educational  activities  that  I  think  are  peculiar  to  Boston. 

No  single  agency  is  so  potent  a  factor  in  the  Americanization  of  the 
alien  as  the  public  evening  school.  For  half  a  century  the  evening 
schools  of  Boston  have  been  giving  to  our  foreign-born  residents  the 
fundamental  and  the  most  important  training  for  citizenship — 
namely,  instruction  in  English.  Teaching  the  foreigner  to  speak,  to 
read,  and  to  write  English  is  by  far  the  greatest  contribution  that 
any  single  agency  has  made  to  the  Nation,  for  with  a  fair  mastery 
of  English  the  immigrant  is  in  a  position  to  help  himself — to  learn 
without  assistance  whatever  is  needed  to  become  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States — at  least,  as  far  as  the  naturalization  procedure  is 
concerned. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF   FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION.  63 

The  evening  elementary  schools  of  Boston  started  with  9  schools 
in  1868  and  have  gradually  increased  until  in  the  year  just  closed 
there  were  21  evening  elementary  schools  in  the  various  sections  of 
Boston.  As  these  schools  have  grown  in  numbers  they  have  also 
changed  in  character,  so  that  to-day  our  evening  elementary  schools 
are  to  all  intents  and  purposes  practically  nothing  but  schools  for 
immigrants.  During  the  year  just  closed,  for  instance,  out  of  an  en- 
rollment of  over  9,500  less  than  1,600  were  born  in  the  United  States. 
More  than  3,500  came  from  Eussia,  and  more  than  2,000  from  Italy. 
Of  these  foreign-born  pupils  over  5,700  were  illiterates,  approxi- 
mately 2,700  minors  and  3,000  adults,  of  both  sexes. 

Under  the  laws  of  the  Commonwealth  illiterate  minors  between 
16  and  21  are  compelled  to  attend  evening  schools  when  in  session, 
but  it  is  certainly  evidence  of  the  compelling  appeal  of  our  schools 
and  of  the  cordial  response  of  the  immigrants  that  a  greater  number 
of  adults  than  of  minors  come  to  these  schools,  and  come  of  their 
own  volition,  without  compulsion  and  practically  without  solicitation. 

While  the  evening  schools  of  Boston  have  always  been  leaders  in 
the  matter  of  immigrant  education,  more  than  ever  before  was  accom- 
plished during  the  year  just  closed  and  their  position  of  leadership 
was  more  firmly  established. 

The  following  innovations  of  the  year  just  closed  seem  worthy  of 
mention : 

First.  Establishment  of  advanced  classes  in  citizenship  by  order 
of  the  school  committee  on  September  9,  1915.  Instruction  in  obtain- 
ing citizenship  papers  had  been  a  part  of  the  evening-school  course 
of  study  for  a  number  of  years,  though  never  specially  emphasized, 
and  while  the  work  of  many  teachers  in  naturalization  had  been 
remarkably  successful  this  success  had  been  attained  more  through 
individual  effort  than  as  the  result  of  a  general  well-organized  plan. 
The  evening-school  department  had  been  in  communication  with  the 
United  States  Bureau  of  Naturalization  during  the  late  spring  months 
of  last  year — discussing  methods  of  cooperation — and  at  a  conference 
with  Deputy  Commissioner  Crist  held  in  Boston  last  August  plans 
were  perfected  and  it  was  agreed  that  all  applicants  for  citizenship 
who  seemed  to  be  lacking  in  the  necessary  qualifications  by  reason  of 
ignorance  of  the  English  language  or  of  the  essentials  of  our  history 
and  system  of  government  should  be  sent  to  the  public  evening  schools 
for  instruction. 

The  names  and  addresses  of  such  applicants  residing  in  Boston  are 
forwarded  monthly  from  the  United  States  bureau  to  the  evening- 
school  department  on  individual  cards,  which  are  returned  to  Wash- 
ington at  the  end  of  the  evening-school  term.  In  addition,  the  bureau 
writes  each  applicant  a  letter  atlvising  him  to  go  to  the  nearest  public 
school.  At  first  the  schools  sent  letters  to  applicants,  but  it  was  found 
more  satisfactory  to  have  each  applicant  at  the  time  he  made  appli- 
cation receive  a  card  urging  his  attendance  at  evening  school  and 
given  the  location  of  the  evening  schools  in  the  city. 

Applicants  for  first  papers  and  those  who  failed  to  qualify  for 
second  papers  because  of  ignorance  of  the  English  language  are  as- 
signed to  the  regular  non-English  speaking  classes  in  which  a  simpli- 
fied form  of  civics  is  taught  in  connection  with  the  instruction  in 
English.  Applicants  for  second  papers  are  grouped  in  the  advanced 


64  PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

or  special  classes  in  citizenship  which  have  been  established  in  10 
schools  in  the  different  sections  of  the  city.  These  classes  are  open 
to  all  foreigners  who  have  acquired  a  sufficient  command  of  English, 
but  who  lack  an  intelligent  comprehension  of  American  history,  gov- 
ernment, and  institutions.  These  classes  are  generally  held  on  two 
evenings  per  week  and  are  in  charge  of  specially  trained  male  teach- 
ers, college  graduates,  and  normal-school  graduates  who  are  working 
with  a  specially  prepared  course  of  study.  Not  only  is  instruction 
given  in  the  essential  facts  of  the  United  States  history  and  Govern- 
ment, so  that  the  petitioner  for  citizenship  will  have  an  adequate 
conception  of  what  his  oath  of  allegiance  really  means,  but  an  at- 
tempt is  made  also  to  train  him  to  adopt  the  point  of  view  and  the 
ideals  of  America  as  far  as  such  training  is  possible.  Every  appli- 
cant who  completes  the  course  satisfactorily  is  given  a  certificate  of 
proficiency  which,  upon  presentation  to  the  chief  naturalization  ex- 
aminer, will  entitle  the  holder  to  special  consideration  and  will 
facilitate  the  obtaining  of  final  citizenship  papers.  These  classes 
are  in  no  sense,  however,  special  "  cramming  "  or  "  coaching  "  classes, 
such  as  are  sometimes  organized  by  well-meaning  individuals  or 
societies  who  do  not  seem  to  realize  that  their  good  intentions 
actually  operate  to  evade  or  to  violate  the  intent  and  the  spirit  of 
the  law. 

The  purpose  of  all  classes  in  citizenship  is  to  train  the  immigrant 
for  efficient  and  intelligent  American  citizenship — not  merely  to  im- 
part information  on  political  organization  or  machinery,  but  rather 
to  put  the  immigrant  into  sympathetic  relation  with  his  own  particu- 
lar environment,  so  that  he  may  make  the  most  of  his  own  oppor- 
tunities for  self -improvement  and  at  the  same  time  realize  his  obli- 
gation to  contribute  his  share  to  the  welfare  of  the  community.  Our 
country  is  a  land  of  great  ideals,  and  the  teaching  of  American 
ideals — rather  than  the  mere  presentation  of  facts — is  the  primary 
purpose  of  such  classes.  The  breaking  down  of  the  differences  be- 
tween nationalities,  the  fostering  of  the  growth  of  common  interests, 
the  development  of  American  ideas,  the  furthering  of  the  proper 
blending  with  the  mass  of  the  population,  the  inspiring  of  American 
ideals  of  citizenship,  and  the  final  transformation  into  citizens — not 
merely  partakers  of  American  liberties,  but  actual  contributors  to 
the  common  welfare — such  is  the  purpose  of  the  classes  in  citizenship 
in  the  evening  elementary  schools. 

Second.  Another  innovation  was  the  training  course  for  evening- 
school  teachers,  authorized  by  order  of  the  school  committee  on 
February  7,  1916. 

This  course  was  given  on  Saturday  mornings  from  February  12  to 
June  3  to  two  groups  of  teachers,  the  first  comprising  normal  school 
seniors  and  others  who  had  not  had  evening-school  experience  and 
the  second  comprising  teachers  who  had  taught  in  our  evening 
schools.  Registration  for  the  course  was  over  150. 

Besides  the  lectures  on  Saturday  mornings,  an  opportunity  was 
afforded  for  observation  in  the  central  evening  school  and  reports 
on  observations  were  required  from  teachers  who  lacked  previous 
evening-school  experience.  The  special  technique  of  evening-school 
work  and  the  methods  of  instruction  in  spoken  and  written  English 
and  in  history,  civics,  and  naturalization  procedure  were  studied  in 
detail.  In  addition,  as  a  sort  of  sociological  background,  considera- 


PROCEEDINGS  OF   FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION.  65 

tion  was  given  to  the  problem  of  the  immigrant  in  America,  its  im- 
portance and  magnitude,  its  significance  to  the  Nation  as  a  whole,  its 
relation  to  the  State,  the  responsibility  of  the  city,  and  particularly 
the  part  the  school  must  take  in  its  proper  solution. 

The  previous  environment  of  the  immigrant  with  the  dominat- 
ing feature  of  race,  nationality,  and  experience  was  discussed,  with 
special  emphasis  on  the  contributions  of  the  various  races  and  na- 
tions to  pur  national  life.  Attention  was  given  to  the  attitude  that 
the  evening-school  teacher  should  evidence  in  her  work  with  foreign 
born.  With  each  succeeding  year  the  number  of  teachers  required 
for  teaching  non-English  speaking  classes  has  constantly  increased, 
and  with  this  increase  has  come  the  recognition  of  the  necessity  of 
special  training  for  this  work  and,  above  all,  of  the  importance  of 
the  teacher's  attitude  toward  her  work,  that  the  purpose  of  the 
evening  schools  may  be  correctly  understood  and  that  the  teachers, 
in  addition  to  their  professional  training  and  special  equipment  in 
the  methods  and  technique  of  teaching  English  to  foreigners,  may 
have  a  broader  conception  of  the  entire  problem  of  immigrant  edu- 
cation, so  that  instead  of  manifesting  an  attitude  of  patronage  or 
contempt  they  would  show  a  deeper  understanding,  a  livelier  inter- 
est, a  keener  sympathy,  and  a  greater  heart  in  the  work. 

The  emphasis  placed  upon  the  teacher's  attitude  should  not  in  any 
sense  be  understood  as  a  criticism  or  a  reflection  upon  our  present 
corps  of  evening-school  teachers.  The  training  course  was  intended 
primarily  for  teachers  without  evening-school  experience,  for  it  goes 
without  saying  that  the  success  that  Boston  has  attained  in  immi- 
grant education  is  due  in  the  highest  degree  to  the  experience,  abil- 
ity, and  earnestness  of  the  classroom  teacher.  It  is  not  too  much  to 
say  that  the  evening-school  teachers  as  a  whole  have  done  remarkable 
work  of  the  highest  order  of  excellence  and  that  nowhere  is  a  greater 
degree  of  skill  in  teaching  shown  than  in  the  classes  for  foreigners. 
It  is  certainly  to  be  hoped  that  some  day  more  general  and  more 
generous  recognition  will  be  accorded  by  the  community  to  our  even- 
ing-school teachers,  whose  knowledge  of  and  sympathy  with  the  aims 
and  needs  of  the  evening  schools  have  contributed  much  to  the  stand- 
ing and  to  the  prestige  of  Boston. 

The  training  course  conducted  this  year  is  merely  another  step 
forward  and  another  evidence  of  Boston's  lead  in  immigrant  educa- 
tion. It  was  the  most  comprehensive  course  of  the  kind  yet  devised 
and  was  the  first  course  with  a  model  school  ever  established  by  a 
city  school  system  and  it  will  probably  furnish  the  inspiration  for 
similar  courses  elsewhere. 

Third.  Another  innovation  introduced  this  year,  by  order  of  the 
•school  committee  on  April  3,  1916,  was  the  establishment  in  the  Eng- 
lish high-school  building  of  the  central  evening  elementary  school  for 
the  purpose  of  giving  instruction  in  English  to  non-English  speak- 
ing people  and  in  citizenship  to  applicants  for  citizenship,  during  an 
extension  of  the  regular  evening-school  term.  Sessions  were  held  on 
three  evenings  each  week  from  April  10,  the  first  week  after  the 
spring  vacation,  until  June  1. 

Persons  interested  in  the  problem  of  educating  the  immigrants 
within  our  borders  have  for  a  long  time  felt  that  the  regular  evening- 
school  term  is  too  short,  for  it  ends  in  March  and  the  schools  are 

70552°— 17 5 


66  PROCEEDINGS   OF  FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

closed  during  the  time  when  the  greatest  number  of  immigrants  ar- 
rive within  our  gates,  during  periods  of  normal  immigration,  and 
those  intrusted  with  the  charge  of  evening  schools  have  frequently 
urged  that  there  should  be  at  least  one  evening  school  open  with 
classes  for  non-English  speaking  persons  and  with  classes  in  citizen- 
ship during  the  entire  time  when  the  day  schools  are  in  session. 

The  English  high-school  building  was  selected  for  the  extended 
term  because  it  was  centrally  located  and  could  attract  pupils  from 
all  sections  of  the  city  and  because  the  desks  and  other  accommoda- 
tions were  suitable  for  adults. 

The  teachers  were  selected  from  the  best  throughout  the  entire 
city,  and  in  addition  to  giving  instruction  to  the  pupils  thoy  served 
as  training  teachers  for  normal-school  seniors  and  for  other  teachers 
who  desire  to  teach  in  the  evening  schools  next  year. 

The  central  evening  elementary  school,  then,  was  the  first  model 
school  for  evening-school  teachers  ever  established  under  public- 
school  auspices. 

Fourth.  Another  innovation  in  immigrant  education  introduced 
this  year  was  the  establishment  of  afternoon  classes  for  foreign-born 
women  on  November  10,  1915. 

In  Boston  the  evening  schools  and  the  continuation  schools  are 
in  the  same  department,  and  for  a  number  of  years  the  voluntary 
classes  of  the  continuation  school  have  had  morning  and  afternoon 
sessions  for  nonrEnglish  speaking  men  whose  hours  of  employment 
prevent  their  attendance  at  evening  schools.  In  this  way  an  op- 
portunity for  instruction  in  English  and  in  citizenship  is  given 
night  workers,  especially  such  applicants  for  citizenship  as  care  to 
attend,  and  the  different  grades  of  hotel  and  restaurant  employees. 
During  the  year  just  closed  there  was  a  registration  of  325,  repre- 
senting 74  hotels  and  restaurants  and  other  establishments  in  the 
central  section  of  the  city. 

Before  this  year,  however,  no  provision  had  been  made  for  women 
to  receive  instruction  in  English  during  the  daytime,  although  there 
has  been  a  growing  sense  of  the  urgency  of  the  need  of  such  instruc- 
tion. The  immigrant  boy  is  compelled  to  attend  day  school  and  the 
immigrant  men  attend  evening  schools  under  the  stress  of  the  neces- 
sity of  learning  English,  while  the  mother  remains  at  home  to  care 
for  her  family  and  to  attend  to  her  household  duties.  As  a  conse- 
quence her  husband  and  her  children  soon  outstrip  her  in  their 
knowledge  of  the  English  language  and  of  American  ways  and 
customs.  No  facilities  had  existed  for  enabling  mothers  to  keep 
abreast  of  their  children,  and  the  consequent  handicap  made  itself 
felt  both  in  school  life  and  in  home  life.  The  children,  with  their 
superior  knowledge  of  English,  have  taken  advantage  of  their  moth- 
ers, and  the  mothers,  too,  have  been  unable  to  do  their  full  share  in 
the  training  of  our  future  citizens,  for  the  home,  of  course,  must  con- 
tribute the  most  to  such  training.  The  family  life  itself  was 
threatened  by  the  Americanization  of  the  children,  for  the  children 
felt  themselves  superior  to  their  parents  and  especially  to  their 
mothers,  and  the  schools  were  blamed  for  fostering-  contempt  for 
parental  control  and  were  accused  of  menacing  the  family  life. 

To  enable  mothers  to  keep  abreast  of  the  progress  of  their  children 
and  to  afford  an  opportunity  for  them  to  learn  English  at  the  only 
time  at  which  they  could  be  spared  from  their  home  duties,  afternoon 


PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST   CITIZENSHIP   CONVENTION.  67 

classes  were  established  in  the  West  End  section  of  the  city  as  an  ex- 
periment. The  classes  were  divided  into  two  sections,  one  section 
meeting  for  two  hours  on  Monday  and  Wednesday,  and  "the  other 
section  meeting  for  two  hours  on  Tuesday  and  Thursday.  Each 
section  was  divided  into  three  groups,  graded  according  to  their  pro- 
ficiency in  English,  and  three  teachers  were  thus  enabled  to  care  for 
a  registration  of  175. 

The  classes  were  held  during  the  hours  when  the  day  schools  were 
in  session  and  when  the  children  of  school  age  were  in  school. 
Volunteer  kindergartners  cared  for  the  younger  children  in  a  room 
provided  for  this  purpose,  and  thus  the  mothers  were  relieved  of 
home  duties  and  were  enabled  to  get  away  for  their  instruction  in 
the  afternoon. 

The  mothers  were  most  enthusiastic  and  rarely  missed  a  day  from 
the  classes,  and  the  experiment  has  proved  an  unqualified  success. 
It  is  hoped  that  if  funds  are  available  this  work  will  be  further  ex- 
tended next  year  to  the  other  sections  of  the  city,  as  the  members  of 
the  school  committee  are  taking  the  keenest  interest  in  the  educa- 
tion of  the  immigrants  within  our  borders. 

These  mothers'  classes,  needless  to  say,  are  the  first  of  the  kind  ever 
established  under  public-school  auspices  with  regular  public-school 
teachers  in  charge.  It  is  probable  that  they  will  serve  as  models  to 
other  communities. 

The  schools  of  Boston,  as  must  be  apparent  even  from  a  rapid  sur- 
vey of  the  work  of  last  year,  are  doing  their  full  duty  in  the  matter 
of  immigrant  education,  but  they  have  been  seriously  handicapped 
heretofore  by  lack  of  funds,  for  evening  schools  are  usually  the  first 
to  suffer  when  a  curtailment,  of  expenditure  is  necessary;  they  have 
been  handicapped  by  lack  of  time,  for  the  evening-school  term  is 
very  short  and  the  sojourn  of  the  foreigner  in  evening  school  very 
brief:  and  they  have  been  handicapped  by  lack  of  cooperation  on 
the  part  of  other  agencies,  for  the  school  is  flatteringly  assumed  to 
be  the  only  agency  in  education  and  the  schools  are  blamed  for  evil 
conditions  for  which  other  agencies  are  in  a  far  greater  measure 
responsible. 

The  schools,  more  than  any  other  agency,  have  recognized  the 
grave  responsibility  of  educating  for  citizenship  the  immigrants  who 
seek  our  shores  from  every  clime  under  the  sun,  but  no  single  agency 
can  hope  to  influence  the  foreigner  in  every  phase  of  his  life.  What 
is  needed  in  a  complete  process  of  Americanization  is  the  coopera- 
tion of  all  existing  agencies  and  institutions. 

A  Nation-wide  campaign  of  publicity  should  be  inaugurated  to 
make  known  to  adult  non-English  speaking  workers  the  advantages 
jfnd  facilities  offered  by  our  public  evening  schools  for  instruction 
in  English  and  in  citizenship,  and  to  enlist  the  assistance  and  support 
of  employers  and  others  in  urging  foreign-born  workers  to  register 
at  the  evening  schools. 

Business  men  in  general,  and  employers  of  foreign-born  workers 
particularly,  are  becoming  aroused  to  the  importance  of  the  part 
which  industry  must  play  in  the  Americanization  of  our  foreign 
born.  The  active  cooperation  of  chambers  of  commerce,  boards  of 
trade,  employment  managers'  associations  and  employers  in  general, 
and  labor  unions  should  be  obtained  for  the  purpose  of  advertising 


68  PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIEST   CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

what  the  public  schools  are  doing  and  what  they  purpose  to  do  in 
the  training  of  aliens  for  citizenship.  Industry,  to  be  sure,  has  a 
certain  co'mpelling  force  which  other  agencies  lack — at  least  from  the 
economic  standpoint — but  the  other  agencies  should  not  be  neglected. 
Especially  desirable  would  be  the  cooperation  and  assistance  of 
the  representative  leaders  of  the  various  nationalities,  of  the  clergy, 
of  the  foreign  press,  and  of  the  various  social,  fraternal,  patriotic, 
and  philanthropic  societies  interested  in  immigrants  and  in  their 
welfare. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  So  well  do  the  examiners  and  the  courts  work 
in  harmony  that  the  courts  will  not  hear  anyone  for  citizenship  that 
the  chief  examiner  feels  does  not  measure  up  to  the  standard  which 
the  court  has  set.  This  is  the  case  in  the  city  of  Boston.  In  that  city 
the  cooperation  of  the  schools  has  been  most  harmonious.  As  you 
have  learned,  they  have  advanced  greatly  there  in  the  education  of  the 
immigrant.  The  Bureau  of  Naturalization,  as  one  of  the  results, 
hopes  to  bring  forward  a  textbook  which  will  mean  a  dissemination 
of  these  advanced  ideas  in  citizenship  classes,  as  it  is  in  a  position 
through  this  linking  together  of  the  public  schools  with  this  bureau 
to  act  as  a  clearing  house  of  ideas  in  the  education  of  the  candidate 
for  citizenship. 

In  this  city,  at  the  instance  of  the  court,  an  order  has  been  estab- 
lished similar  to  that  in  Boston  and  Pittsburgh.  It  is  the  object  of 
the  bureau  that  this  will  ultimately  be  possible  to  accomplish  in  all 
parts  of  the  country  where  we  have  located  naturalization  examiners. 

We  have  had  expressions  from  the  schools,  the  courts,  and  the  vari- 
ous branches  of  the  Government.  The  sessions  would  be  incomplete 
if  we  did  not  have  the  business  man's  viewpoint  of  the  education  of 
the  candidate  for  citizenship  and  the  entire  resident  immigrant  body, 
which  in  the  last  anaylsis,  if  not  in  the  first,  is  a  business  proposi- 
tion. It  appeals  to  the  business  man  when  he  gives  it  even  the  slight- 
est supervision,  but  in  Detroit  they  have  been  confronted  with  an 
acute  problem  by  the  influx  of  an  unusually  large  number  of  foreign- 
ers attracted  by  the  industrial  growth  of  that  city.  The  board  of 
commerce  has  an  excellent  organization,  and  they  have  sent  to  this 
convention  Mr.  I.  Walton  Schmidt,  of  the  industrial  welfare  depart- 
ment of  the  Board  of  Commerce  of  Detroit,  and  he  will  give  you  the 
business  man's  point  of  view  of  the  education  work  now  being  car- 
ried on. 

ADDRESS  OF  I.  WALTON  SCHMIDT,  OF  THE  BOARD  OF  COMMERCE 

OF  DETROIT. 

Mr.  CHAIRMAN,  LADIES,  AND  GENTLEMEN:  I  wish  to  modify  the 
topic  assigned  to  me  to  read,  "  The  Detroit  business  man's  view,  etc. 

The  business  man  of  Detroit  views  the  cooperative  work  of  the 
Government  and  the  public  schools  with  decided  approval.  He  be- 
lieves in  industrial  preparedness.  He  believes  he  can  reduce  the 


PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST   CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION.  69 

turnover  of  labor  in  his  plant  by  insisting  that  his  foreign  workmen 
learn  to  speak  English  because  he  can  then  pay  them  higher  wages 
for  more  skilled  work. 

The  Detroit  business  man  believes  in  this  work  because  he  knows 
that  there  are  60,000  non-English  speaking  workmen  in  Detroit.  He 
remembers  the  winter  of  1914-15,  when  his  board  of  commerce  had  to 
drop  all  other  activities  and  organize  itself  into  a  monster  employ- 
ment agency  to  take  care  of  these  very  men.  He  remembers  that 
23,000  men  applied  at  the  board  for  work,  and  that  15,000  of  them 
could  not  speak  our  language  and  possessed  not  even  the  smallest 
skill  in  the  simplest  trade.  He  remembers  how  it  was  possible  to 
find  work  for  the  men  who  could  speak  English,  and  how  he  was 
called  upon  all  through  that  winter  to  aid  in  the  task  of  providing  the 
families  of  the  non-English  speaking  men  with  food  and  clothing  and 
medical  attention.  When  that  winter  was  over  the  business  man  of 
Detroit  came  to  a  realization  that  the  assimilation  of  the  immigrant 
was  not  a  piece  of  welfare  work  but  a  fundamental  civic  necessity. 

When  the  members  of  the  board  of  commerce  came  to  consider  the 
continuing  responsibility  of  the  business  men  toward  the  army  of 
unemployed,  they  quickly  came  to  the  conclusion  that  Detroit  had  a 
great  responsibility  to  provide  its  foreign-born  population  with  the 
opportunity  to  learn  to  speak,  read,  and  write  the  English  language. 
They  decided  that  &  night-school  campaign  for  the  English  language 
and  citizenship  would  be  a  practicable  approach  to  the  vast  and  com- 
plicated problem  of  assimilation.  They  realized  that  the  end  to  be 
obtained  was  a  social  ideal,  and  that  therefore  the  ways  and  means 
would  be  those  of  social  cooperation,  involving  every  constructive 
factor  in  the  civic  organization. 

This  was  the  situation  when  the  board  of  commerce  appointed  its 
Americanization  committee.  At  the  request  of  this  committee  the 
Committee  for  Immigrants  in  America  (now  the  National  Ameri- 
canization Committee)  sent  one  of  its  experts,  Mr.  Raymond  E.  Cole, 
to  make  a  preliminary  survey  of  the  condition  of  the  immigrant  in 
Detroit  and  submit  a  report  with  recommendations.  Mr.  Cole's 
report  proved  that  Detroit  was  a  typical  immigration  laboratory. 
The  development  of  the  city  within  the  last  decade  may  be  indexed 
under  two  heads — the  automobile  industry  and  immigration.  Not 
many  years  ago  Detroit  was  a  beautiful  unified  town,  provincial  in 
its  ideal,  of  conservative  French-American  traditions.  To-day  it 
typifies  at  home  and  abroad  an  expanding  center  of  American  in- 
dustrialism. The  small-town  current  is  still  there,  but  it  has  been 
deflected  at  a  hundred  points  by  the  workshops  of  national  industries. 
The  small-town  grace  and  the  small-town  prejudice  are  still  there 
•  also,  but  they  have  been  invaded  at  a  hundred  points  by  all  the  races 
of  the  earth  and  all  the  destinies  of  cosmopolitan  America.  The 
destiny  of  America  has  precipitated  itself  into  Detroit.  And  Detroit, 
while  proud  of  its  industrial  significance,  proud  of  the  swiftly  flow- 
ing life  within  it,  of  its  rapid  passage  to  distinction  in  the  eyes  of 
America  and  of  all  the  world,  is  nevertheless  dazed  at  being  thus 
overtaken.  As  a  typical  cosmopolitan  city  of  America,  it  has  not 
yet  accepted  or  found  itself. 

The  tide  has  come  on  too  quickly  to  make  this  possible.  A  sum- 
mary of  the  last  five  years  proves  that.  The  population  of  Detroit  in 
1910  was  465,766.  It  is  now  about  800,000.  An  increase  of  over  300,000 


70  PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

in  a  space  of  six  years  tells  half  of  the  story  of  the  present-day 
Detroit.  By  a  rapid  expansion  of  the  automobile  industry  a  city  was 
grafted  upon  a  town.  By  the  importation  of  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  foreign  workmen  a  comparatively  small  city,  with  the  ideals,  the 
housing,  the  general  intentions  of  the  town  it  supplanted,  became, 
in  population,  the  seventh  city  in  the  country,  and  in  industrial 
importance  perhaps  third  or  fourth.  The  map.  of  Detroit  is  now  a 
map  of  nations.  Two  great  Polish  sections  cover  together  perhaps 
a  fourth  of  the  city's  area;  well  in  the  center  of  the  city  is  a  solid 
Italian  section;  one  whole  end  of  the  city  is  practically  solid  Hun- 
garian ;  and  Russians,  Greeks,  Roumanians,  Servians,  Jews,  Belgians, 
and  Armenians  constitute  smaller  groups  throughout.  There  are  a 
half  dozen  cities,  distinct  in  type,  within  the  city's  boundaries. 

In  1910,  33  per  cent  of  the  population  was  foreign  born  and  74 
per  cent  was  either  foreign  born  or  of  foreign  parentage.  It  is  safe 
to  assume  that  the  300,000  increase  in  population  since  1910  has  not 
lessened  these  percentages. 

The  Detroit  factories  are  placing  the  city  high  in  production,  high 
in  importance  in  America.  They  are  working  out  the  type  of  Ameri- 
can industry.  But  thousands  of  them  are  not  working  out  the  type 
of  American  citizenship  or  American  workmen  at  all. 

That,  says  the  practical  observer,  is  not  the  business  of  industry. 
And  this  is  true.  It  is  not  the  business  of  industry  alone,  nor  of  the 
public  educational  system  alone,  nor  of  municipal  government  alone, 
nor  of  private  social  organizations  alone.  It  is  the  business  of  all 
of  these,  and  it  will  require  them  all.  Detroit  has  been  referred  to 
as  the  most  American  of  pur  cities.  To  make  this  true  in  any  except 
an  industrial  sense  requires  a  work  of  assimilation  so  stupendous 
that  every  constructive  force  in  the  city  will  be  taxed  to  its  utmost  to 
accomplish  it.  The  work  has  been  begun,  and  only  begun,  in  the 
campaign  to  fill  the  night  schools.  But  the  union  of  the  community 
forces  attained  in  this  campaign  gives  promise  for  the  future  and 
points  a  social  ideal  for  other  communities  in  the  same  direction. 

That  "  English  first "  is  the  rational  first  step  in  Americanization 
is  well  illustrated  by  Detroit.  Many  thousands  of  the  foreign  born 
of  Detroit  do  not  speak  English.  In  1910  the  non-English  speaking 
numbered  38,038.  In  1915,  with  a  population  increased  by  300,000, 
the  number  of  those  unable  to  read,  write,  and  speak  or  understand 
English  must  have  been  extraordinarily  increased.  We  figure  it  at 
about  60,000. 

Fortunately  Detroit  was  better  equipped  to  deal  with  the  problem 
that  year  than  ever  before,  because  the  appropriation  for  conducting 
the  night  schools  in  the  elementary  grades  had  been  more  than 
doubled.  The  committee  requested  the  National  Americanization 
Committee  to  suggest  the  name  of  some  one  who  could  carry  out 
the  recommendations  made  in  Mr.  Cole's  report.  Miss  Esther  E. 
Lape  came  to  Detroit,  and  for  six  weeks  in  the  fall  of  1915  carried 
on  a  campaign,  the  result  of  which  I  shall  endeavor  to  tell  you. 

Letters  were  sent  to  every  Detroit  industry  employing  100  or  over, 
calling  their  attention  to  the  large  number  of  non-English  speaking 
workmen  in  Detroit,  asking  for  information  as  to  the  situation  in  indi- 
vidual plants,  and  requesting  their  cooperation  in  urging  all  non- 
English  speaking  workers  in  Detroit  to  register  in  the  evening  schools. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIEST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION.  71 

Representatives  of  industries  employing  a  large  number  of  immi- 
grants were  invited  to  meet  at  luncheon  with  the  Americanization 
committee.  Here  employers  told  of  conditions  existing  within  their 
own  plant  and  suggested  the  exact  ways  in  which  they  would  find  it 
most  feasible  to  urge  night-school  attendance  on  their  men. 

As  a  result  of  the  suggestions  received  the  board  of  commerce  sub- 
mitted a  plan  to  every  industry  in  the  city  employing  a  considerable 
number  of  laborers.  In  some  factories  the  safety-first  department 
took  charge  of  the  work ;  in  others  the  organized  welfare  department ; 
in  others  an  executive  of  the  company  made  himself  personally  re- 
sponsible. 

All  industries  agreed  in  putting  up  posters,  assembling  the  men  to 
urge  night-school  attendance,  and  issuing  the  pay-envelope  slips  pro- 
vided by  the  board  of  education.  Many  variations  were  used  by 
individual  industries  to  encourage  night-school  attendance. 

Many  employers  at  once  made  it  clear  to  their  men  that  from  this 
time  on  the  firms  would  prefer  those  men  who  are  attending  night 
schools  and  making  a  definite  effort  to  learn  English.  One  large 
automobile  factory  made  night-school  attendance  compulsory  to 
non-English  speaking  employees.  Another  large  factory  gave  their 
men  a  threefold  choice:  (1)  To  attend  factory  class,  (2)  to  attend 
public  night  schools,  (3)  to  be  laid  off.  Another  company,  opposed 
to  compulsion,  preferred  assembling  their  men  in  groups  and  at- 
tempting to  promote  night-school  attendance  by  popularizing  the 
night-school  idea  among  the  leaders  of  various  groups.  Another 
large  company  proposed  a  wage  increase  of  2  cents  per  hour  to  its 
employees  who  would  learn  the  English  language. 

The  clergy  of  foreign  churches  announced  the  opening  of  the  night 
schools  on  the  two  Sundays  preceding  the  opening  and  strongly  rec- 
ommended the  attendance  of  all  who  could  not  speak  English.  Hand- 
bills were  distributed  at  the  various  foreign  churches  on  the  Sunday 
immediately  preceding  registration. 

The  public  library  placed  large  colored  Americanization  posters 
in  conspicuous  places,  and  they  also  worked  out  a  careful  distribu- 
tion system  by  which  all  books  issued  to  immigrant  children  con- 
tained a  folder  giving  the  locations  of  the  evening  schools. 

The  recreation  commission  distributed  500  similar  cards  to  immi- 
grant children  through  the  playground  and  swimming  pools  and 
supplied  workers  to  visit  small  shops  in  immigrant  sections  and 
interest  shopkeepers  in  putting  up  display  posters. 

They  performed  the  same  service  at  small  motion-picture  houses 
in  these  sections.  The  recreation  commission  also  took  over  the 
distribution  of  handbills  in  certain  sections. 

The  board  of  health  instructed  its  60  nurses  to  carry  around  hand- 
bills issued  in  seven  languages  by  the  board  of  commerce. 

Poor  commission  in  all  departments  of  its  work  used  the  handbills 
along  the  same  methods. 

The  juvenile  court  arranged  to  issue  handbills  with  all  widows' 
pension  papers. 

Handbills  were  distributed  through  social  agencies  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  associated  charities. 

The  United  Jewish  Charities  did  active  work  through  the  Yiddish 
section  in  distributing  handbills  and  seeing  that  display  posters  were 
put  up  in  small  shops. 


72  PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

The  three  main  employment  agencies — the  Employers'  Association, 
Michigan  State  Free  Employment  Bureau,  and  the  Federal  Employ- 
ment Bureau — all  had  special  police  officers  deputized  to  give  hand- 
bills to  every  non-English  speaking  man  who  applied  for  work. 

The  Boy  Scouts  covered  the  immigrant  sections  of  the  city  in  dis- 
tributing handbills  on  the  same  day  on  which  employers  were  re- 
quested to  call  their  men  together  at  noon  to  urge  night-school 
attendance. 

The  Italian  consul,  who  is  a  banker  and  steamship  agent,  used  his- 
headquarters  as  a  distribution  center  for  handbills  and  posters  and 
arranged  interviews  with  prominent  Italians  in  his  office  and  in 
other  ways  assisted  the  campaign  in  the  Italian  section. 

No  fonts  of  Greek  type  were  available  in  Detroit,  and  therefore 
the  Greek  colony  was  cut  off  from  the  handbills  and  posters.  A 
Greek  merchant,  an  acknowledged  leader  of  the  Greek  colony,  ap- 
pealed to  through  the  board  of  commerce,  used  his  place  to  urge 
attendance  at  night  school.  He  even  went  to  the  expense  of  having 
Greek  handbills  printed,  ordering  them  from  New  York. 

Nearly  4,000  Uncle  Sam  night-school  posters  in  four  colors  and 
seven  languages  were  displayed  at  various  advantageous  places 
throughout  Detroit.  A  large  billboard  company  posted  500  of  these 
on  the  billboards  throughout  the  city  free  of  charge.  Every  social 
agency,  settlement,  clinic,  etc.,  put  them  up  at  headquarters  and  in 
branch  offices  and  in  several  cases  assumed  the  responsibility  for 
getting  them  up  throughout  the  immigrant  section. 

Factories  placed  them  at  favorable  places  throughout  their  plants. 
Some  of  the  social  agencies,  with  the  assistance  of  workers  from  the 
recreation  commission  and  other  volunteers,  also  took  posters  to 
many  small  shops  of  the  various  immigrant  sections. 

Representatives  of  the  Detroit  Federation  of  Labor  and  also  of  the 
brewery  workers'  and  billposters'  unions  agreed  to  have  their 
workers  place  the  posters  in  saloons  throughout  the  city  with  a  recom- 
mendation to  saloonkeepers  to  put  them  up  and  keep  them  up. 

The  employment  agencies  put  them  up  where  they  could  be  seen 
by  every  waiting  line. 

The  Michigan  Workmen's  Compensation  Mutual  Insurance  Co. 
issued  a  special  night-school  bulletin  to  all  employers  on  their  list 
throughout  the  city  and  throughout  Michigan,  containing  definite 
suggestions  as  to  how  an  employer  might  promote  night-school  at- 
tendance among  his  men.  It  was  especially  appropriate  for  this 
agency  to  point  out  to  its  constituents  the  immediate  connection  be- 
tween English  first  and  safety  first. 

Foreign-language  editors  gave  their  support;  they  came  personally 
to  the  board  of  commerce  to  see  those  in  charge  of  the  campaign, 
giving  their  suggestions  and  accepting  others. 

Some  space  in  the  daily  press,  in  English  and  foreign  languages, 
was  given  to  night  schools  every  day  from  August  17  to  Septem- 
ber 13. 

As  the  result  of  this  campaign  the  attendance  at  the  Detroit  public 
night  schools  on  Monday  evening,  September  13,  1915,  was  increased 
153  per  cent,  and  in  some  of  the  schools  the  attendance  was  so  large 
that  it  was  impossible  for  the  principals  to  register  them  all,  and 
some  of  them  were  told  to  return  for  registration  the  next  evening. 


PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION.  73 

At  one  school  in  the  Polish  district  1,000  were  registered  and  over 
500  were  turned  away;  at  another  school  650  were  enrolled  and 
600  turned  away ;  at  another  school  500  were  enrolled  and  about  200 
turned  away,  and  the  year  previous  the  enrollment  at  this  same  school 
was  approximately  250 ;  at  another  school  610  were  enrolled  and  300 
turned  away,  and  so  on.  There  was  a  total  of  6,345  students  enrolled 
in  the  elementary  schools  and  1,835  at  the  high  schools;  estimating 
that  over  2,000  were  turned  away  at  the  various  schools,  the  total 
attendance  was  over  10,000  on  the  opening  night,  and  it  was  a  very 
warm  night,  too.  So  we  considered  this  very  satisfactory. 

It  would  not  be  fair  to  attempt  a  description  of  our  campaign  with- 
out an  additional  tribute  to  the  editors  of  the  foreign-language 
newspapers.  Not  only  was  their  aid  invaluable  in  the  September 
campaign,  but  when  we  came  to  make  the  campaign  again  for  the 
second  term  of  the  schools  in  January  we  organized  a  subcommittee 
consisting  of  the  editors  of  the  foreign  papers  and  a  number  of  leaders 
from  among  their  people.  We  entertained  this  committee  at  luncheon 
a  number  of  times  previous  to  the  opening  of  the  schools  and  they 
gave  us  fine  notices  in  their  papers  and  the  leaders  went  back  among 
their  peoples  as  active  missionaries  for  the  movement.  By  means  of 
these  leaders  our  committee  is  in  constant  touch  with  the  life  of  the 
foreign  element  of  the  city,  and  as  an  example  of  this  I  would  cite 
the  fact  that  we  are  invited  to  participate  in  their  own  particular 
celebrations,  of  which  the  average  American  is  not  even  aware. 

I  have  attempted  to  give  you  a  description  of  the  preliminary  work 
leading  up  to  the  opening  of  the  schools.  This  same  campaign  was 
repeated  in  December  prior  to  the  opening  of  the  second  term  of  the 
school  in  January.  It  will  be  repeated  again  next  fall.  Now,  I 
would  like  to  tell  you  of  some  of  the  ways  the  business  men  of  Detroit 
demonstrated  their  belief  in  the  soundness  of  the  Americanization 
campaign  of  the  board  of  commerce. 

When  the  schools  were  nicely  started  and  running  along  smoothly 
the  problem  of  finding  work  for  the  men  who  were  consistent  pupils  in 
the  schools  came  up.  Through  the  board  of  commerce  employers  all 
over  the  city  had  promised  to  give  preference  to  men  attending  the 
evening  schools.  Therefore,  when  a  man  at  the  evening  schools  was 
out  of  a  position  he  took  his  attendance  card  stamped  for  that  week 
and  it  acted  as  a  passport  for  him  at  the  employment  offices  of  the 
large  companies  for  the  following  week.  The  employment  managers 
for  these  companies  gave  special  preference  to  men  presenting  such 
attendance  cards.  When  the  schools  were  in  full  operation  our  com- 
mittee turned  its  attention  to  the  naturalization  end  of  the  question. 
We  are  fortunate  in  having  in  Detroit  one  of  the  finest,  broadest,  and 
best  hearted  of  men  as  our  chief  naturalization  examiner.  Merton  A. 
Sturges  stands  high  in  the  councils  of  the  business  men  of  Detroit. 
Time  and  again  our  committee  has  called  upon  Mr.  Sturges  for  advice 
and  for  practical  and  painstaking  work.  He  attends  our  committee 
luncheons  when  he  is  in  the  city  and  no  step  is  taken  without  his 
advice  and  counsel. 

As  an  example  of  the  kind  of  cooperation  we  are  securing  in 
Detroit  from  the  Bureau  of  Naturalization,  through  Mr.  Sturges,  I 
should  like  to  tell  you  of  our  factory  noon-hour  meetings.  When  the 
foreign  workmen  of  the  city  became  aware  of  the  fact  that  the  board 
of  commerce  was  a  place  where  they  could  secure  information  as  to 


74  PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIEST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

naturalization  and  the  evening  schools,  they  began  to  come  in  large 
numbers  to  receive  our  booklet  entitled  "  Information  for  Immigrants 
in  Detroit,  Mich.,  Preparing  to  be  American  Citizens."  We  found 
that  in  many  cases  they  were  laying  off  work  to  make  the  trip.  At 
the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Byres  H.  Gitchell,  a  member  of  our  committee 
and  former  secretary  of  the  board,  it  was  decided  to  have  some  per- 
son well  posted  upon  the  naturalization  law  visit  a  number  of  Detroit 
factories  and  address  the  men  on  their  own  time  at  noon  hour  on  the 
subject,  "  How  to  take  out  your  naturalization  papers."  We  could 
think  of  no  better  equipped  person  to  do  this  than  Mr.  Sturges,  and 
I  want  to  pay  a  tribute  to  the  effectiveness  of  the  way  he  did  it.  Our 
plan  was  to  schedule  meetings  at  the  various  plants  for  a  period  of 
two  weeks  ahead.  The  plants  put  up  notices  on  their  time  clocks, 
advising  the  men  of  the  meeting  and  the  purpose  we  had  in  holding 
it.  We  made  it  plain  to  the  manufacturers  and  to  the  men  that  the 
United  States  Government  was  not  conducting  a  campaign  of  coax- 
ing the  men  to  become  citizens.  We  told  them  that  the  chief  natur- 
alization examiner  was  visiting  the  plants  at  our  request  for  the  pur- 
pose of  stating  in  language  which  they  could  understand  just  what 
they  should  do  to  become  citizens.  During  the  first  two  weeks  of 
this  campaign  Mr.  Sturges  spoke  to  over  5,000  men.  Of  course,  there 
were  many  men  in  our  audiences  who  could  not  understand  English, 
but  there  were  many  who  could  understand  quite  a  bit  of  it,  and  they 
in  turn  told  their  fellow  workmen  what  Mr.  Sturges  had  said. 
After  each  talk  Mr.  Sturges  answered  questions  and  straightened 
out  the  difficulties  of  individual  cases.  I  wish  I  could  picture  to 
you  the  earnestness  and  sincerity  displayed  by  Mr.  Sturges  in  this 
campaign.  I  doubt  if  there  is  a  better  man  in  the  country  for  the 
purpose.  Certainly  I  have  never  seen  another  man  so  capable  of 
winning  the  confidence  of  an  audience  of  workmen.  The  results  of 
the  campaign  were  astonishing.  The  number  of  applications  in- 
creased steadily.  Just  here  I  should  like  to  quote  you  some  figures : 

From  January  to  June,  1916,  there  were  5,504  applications  for  first 
papers  in  Detroit,  as  compared  to  2,513  in  the  same  period  in  1915. 
This  is  a  gain  of  2,691,  or  a  gain  of  107  per  cent.  I  should  like  to 
quote  you  the  figures  for  the  month  of  March,  which  is  the  month  in 
which  Mr.  Sturges  made  his  first  series  of  talks  and  is  the  month  fol- 
lowing the  Packard  announcement  of  "Americans  first."  In  March, 
1915,  there  were  669  first  papers  filed,  and  in  March,  1916,  there  were 
1,597,  representing  a  gain  of  928,  or  138  per  cent.  It  might  be  well  to 
tell  you  something  about  this  "Americans  first"  policy.  It  is  just 
another  way  the  Detroit  business  man  has  of  demonstrating  his  view- 
point. Let  me  read  it  to  you : 

[The  United   States  Flag.] 
AMERICANS  FIRST. 

The  Packard  Motor  Car  Co.  makes  this  announcement  of  a  new  and  important 
policy  to  all  its  employees: 

From  and  after  this  date  promotions  to  positions  of  importance  in  the  or- 
ganization of  this  company  will  be  given  only  to  those  who  are  native-born  or 
naturalized  citizens  of  the  United  States,  or  to  those  of  foreign  birth  who  have 
relinquished  their  foreign  citizenship  and  who  have  filed  with  our  Government 
their  first  papers  applying  for  citizenship,  which  application  for  citizenship 
must  be  diligently  followed  to  completion. 


PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIEST   CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION.  75 

Employees  of  foreign  birth  who  retain  their  foreign  citizenship  will  not  be 
discriminated  against  in  their  present  positions  or  work,  but  they  will  not  be 
promoted  to  positions  of  responsibility  and  trust. 

A  prerequisite  to  employment  by  this  company  must  be  loyalty  to  our  Govern- 
ment and  our  flag,  in  addition  to  loyalty  to  the  company  itself. 

The  factory  management  is  authorized  to  make  this  order  effective  im- 
mediately. 

PACKARD  MOTOB  CAB  Co., 
By  AXVAN  MACAULEY, 
Vice  President  and  General  Manager. 
DETROIT,  MICH.,  January  31,  1916. 

You  will  notice  that  this  announcement  silences  the  criticism  that 
we  are  doing  everything  for  the  foreigner  and  nothing  for  the  Ameri- 
can. The  effect  of  this  announcement  in  Detroit  has  been  tre- 
mendous, and  it  has  been  widely  copied  all  over  the  country. 

Another  national  figure  in  the  Americanization  movement  which 
claims  Detroit  as  its  home  is  the  Ford  Motor  Co.  Mr.  Ford  is 
another  man  whom  I  should  like  to  call  to  your  attention  in  attempt- 
ing to  give  you  a  description  of  the  Detroit  business  man's  viewpoint. 
When  we  first  planned  to  interest  the  employers  of  Detroit  in  the 
matter  of  teaching  their  employees  English,  Mr.  Ford  gave  a 
luncheon  and  invited  these  employers  to  come  and  see  the  Ford 
method  of  attacking  this  problem.  Let  me  tell  you  something  of  the 
operation  of  this  unique  factory  school : 

Their  course  covers  34  weeks,  two  lessons  per  week,  and  pupils 
became  proficient  in  this  time  if  they  are  taught  by  live  teachers. 
This  means  a  teacher  who  is  not  only  teaching  for  money,  but  teach- 
ing with  the  aim  of  benefiting  his  foreign  brother. 

Classes  are  held  two  times  a  week,  each  period  lasting  one  and 
one-half  hours.  One-half  of  the  pupils  attend  class  on  Monday  and 
Thursday  and  the  other  half  come  on  Tuesday  and  Friday.  They 
have  found  by  experience  that  it  is  better  to  have  fewer  lessons  per 
week  with  plenty  of  time  between  in  order  to  give  the  subject  matter 
a  chance  to  be  digested  rather  than  congested. 

The  Ford  plant  runs  in  three  shifts  of  eight  hours  each.  Classes 
are  held  in  the  morning  from  6.30  to  9  a.  m.  to  accommodate  the  men 
from  the  night  shifts.  Afternoon  classes  are  held  continuously  from 
12.30  to  5.30  p.  m.,  taking  the  men  who  start  work  in  the  afternoon 
before  they,  go  to  work  and  the  men  who  get  through  work  in  the 
afternoon  as  soon  as  they  ring  out  after  the  day's  work. 

There  are  25  to  40  men  in  a  class.  Teachers  are  secured  from  the 
factory.  They  are  all  American-born  men,  who  hold  responsible  posi- 
tions in  the  plant.  They  can  speak  the  "American"  language  well 
and  are  possessed  of  that  religion  of  "  Help  the  other  fellow."  These 
men  are  put  into  a  training  class  every  Wednesday  for  a  period  of 
12  weeks.  In  this  class  one  man  acts  as  teacher  and  the  rest  of  those 
present  compose  the  class.  They  are  put  through  the  lessons  as 
they  are  expected  to  teach  them  in  the  class  and  are  constantly  under 
the  supervision  of  a  critic  who  is  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  system 
in  use. 

No  salary  whatever  is  paid  to  the  teachers  of  the  Ford  English 
school.  They  have  caught  the  spirit  of  Henry  Ford  and  are  willing 
to  give  their  own  time  to  help  the  man  who  has  had  no  opportunity 
to  help  himself. 


76  PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST   CITIZENSHIP   CONVENTION. 

There  is  absolutely  no  cost  to  the  pupil  for  instruction.  It  is  said 
the  cost  to  the  company  would  not  average  $2  per  pupil  per  year. 
This  is  an  off-hand  estimate  and  is  not  given  as  accurate. 

The  pupils  learn  to  read,  write,  and  speak  the  "American  "  language. 
They  also  learn  American  customs,  such  as  how  to  act  when  they  are 
introduced  to  another  party,  to  tip  their  hats  when  they  meet  a  lady, 
to  give  their  seats  to  ladies  when  on  the  street  cars,  how  to  pass  food 
at  the  table,  how  to  put  sugar  and  cream  into  their  coffee,  how  to 
use  their  knife,  fork,  and  napkin,  and  many  other  such  things  that 
enter  into  their  home  life  and  manner.  They  learn  to  love  the 
American  flag  and  to  know  what  it  stands  for.  The  Ford  Motor  Co. 
officials  state  that  since  the  school  was  started  in  May,  1914,  accidents 
have  decreased  54  per  cent.  Over  50  interpreters  have  been  assigned 
to  other  work  rather  than  stand  around  interpreting  for  the  fore- 
men and  the  men. 

While  the  Ford  school  is  unique  and  successful  it  is  not  the  policy 
of  the  Americanization  committee  to  encourage  factory  classes.  We 
strongly  urge  employers  to  send  their  men  to  the  public  evening 
schools.  Detroit  was  fortunate  in  having  broad-minded  and  capable 
officials  in  charge  of  public  education.  The  present  system  of  public 
evening  schools  for  foreigners  in  Detroit  stands  as  a  monument  to 
the  sincerity  and  to  the  efficient  methods  of  Mr.  Frank  Cody,  the 
assistant  superintendent  of  schools.  Mr.  Cody  has  gathered  the  best 
thought  of  the  country  in  this  connection  and  applied  it  to  Detroit's 
problem.  One  of  Mr.  Cody's  most  brilliant  strokes  has  been  the 
formation  of  the  first  night-school  teachers'  institute  to  be  held  in 
this  country.  He  was  determined  that  Detroit  teachers  should  teach 
foreigners  English  in  the  best  possible  way  that  it  could  be  done. 
With  this  in  view  he  brought  Dr.  Peter  Roberts,  the  leading  au- 
thority on  the  subject,  and  Mr.  H.  H.  Wheaton,  specialist  in  immi- 
grant education  of  the  Bureau  of  Education,  to  Detroit,  and  these 
two  men  drilled  the  teachers  of  our  public  schools  in  the  theory  and 
practice  of  teaching  English.  I  believe  I  can  say  without  contradic- 
tion that  nowhere  in  the  country  will  the  foreign  workmen  be  better 
taught  than  in  Detroit  under  Mr.  Cody's  supervision. 

Just  here  it  might  be  well  for  me  to  give  you  a  brief  description  of 
the  way  in  which  the  Americanization  campaign  is  organized  in 
Detroit  * 

We  look  to  the  National  Americanization  Committee  of  New  York 
City  to  act  as  a  clearing  house  for  the  activities  of  all  organizations 
engaged  in  immigrant  work.  This  organization,  together  with  the 
United  States  Bureau  of  Naturalization  and  the  United  States  Bu- 
reau of  Education,  constitute  our  national  connection.  In  Detroit 
our  organization  consists  of  the  Americanization  committee  of  the 
Detroit  Board  of  Commerce,  a  committee  of  volunteer  business  men 
employing  a  paid  secretary,  who  devotes  his  entire  time  to  the  Ameri- 
canization movement  in  Detroit;  the  Detroit  Board  of  Education, 
operating  30  public  evening  schools,  strategically  placed  in  various 
foreign  sections  of  the  city,  under  the  direct  supervision  of  Mr.  Frank 
Cody,  assistant  superintendent  of  schools,  who  is  also  a  member  of 
the  Americanization  committee  of  the  board  of  commerce ;  the  recrea- 
tion commission,  conducting  recreation  activities  in  the  public  even- 
ing schools  one  evening  a  week  under  the  supervision  of  the  commis- 
sioner of  recreation,  who  is  also  a  member  of  the  Americanization 


PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST   CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION.  77 

committee;  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  operating  citi- 
zenship classes  under  the  supervision  of  an  industrial  secretary,  "who 
actively  cooperates  with  the  Americanization  committee  of  the  board 
of  commerce;  employers  of  foreign  workmen — 350  who  are  circu- 
larized and  to  whom  bulletins  are  issued,  175  active  in  cooperating, 
20  to  25  large  employers  of  foreign  labor  upon  whom  the  American- 
ization committee  is  concentrating  its  efforts ;  local  organizations 
coming  in  contact  with  immigrants,  including  visiting  nurses,  em- 
ployment agencies,  Associated  Charities,  Jewish  Charities,  foreign 
societies,  foreign  churches,  pu^li^J^ar^-pooEuiommission,  foreign 
papers,  foreign  leadep,  loc^^A-rnefi€an~press^  Stats  of  tEe~American 
Revolution,  and  various  other  patriotic  societies. 

Our  group  activities  may  be  put  Under~two~heada — naturalization, 
and  English  schools.  As'fo  naturalization,  our  activity  consists  of 
cooperation  with  the  clerk  of  the  circuit  court  and  with  the  clerk' of 
the  United  States  district  court;  factory  calls  on  request;  citizenship 
schools  opened  after  the  regular  night-school  term  is  over  and  de- 
voted entirely  to  coaching  the  men  in  preparation  for  taking  out  their 
citizenship  papers;  factory  campaigns,  that  is.  visits  by  the  chief 
naturalization  examiner  to  the  plants;  secretary's  office  conferences 
with  foreign  workmen  seeking  naturalization  information;  naturali- 
zation advice  in  the  regular  public  evening  schools;  assistance  and 
guidance  by  the  secretary  to  groups  of  foreign  workmen  to  naturali- 
zation office;  reception  to  new  citizens;  organization  of  Fourth  of 
July  celebration,  etc. 

As  to  the  English  schools,  the  activity  of  our  committee  consists  in 
an  effort  to  secure  a  large  attendance  at  these  schools  by  means  of 
twice-a-year  campaigns,  which  include  distribution  of  handbills  to 
the  plants,  distribution  of  large  colored  night-school  posters;  organ- 
izing various  agencies  coming  in  contact  with  foreigners;  distribu- 
tion of  map  of  Detroit  showing  locations  of  public  evening  schools; 
publication  of  this  map  in  all  foreign  and  daily  newspapers  of 
Detroit ;  factory  surveys  during  the  month  of  August  to  secure  data 
for  factory  enrollment:  factory  enrollment  at  beginning  of  evening- 
school  term  in  September;  night-school  teachers'  institute;  confer- 
ences with  groups  of  large  employers  of  foreign  labor;  securing  of 
employment  for  night-school  pupils  out  of  work. 

In  general  our  committee  is  endeavoring  to  act  as  a  clearing  house 
for  all  agencies  working  with  foreigners  in  the  city  of  Detroit.  The 
secretary  is  assembling  and  classifying  data  of  all  kinds  regarding 
Detroit's  foreign  population  in  order  that  the  committee  may  in- 
telligently handle  its  own  work  and  at  the  same  time  be  an  author- 
ative  source  of  information  on  the  entire  subject  of  the  school  and 
the  immigrant.  The  secretary  is  gathering  material  on  social-center 
activities  in  public  evening  schools  for  foreigners  from  which  the 
committee  can  make  definite  recommendations  to  the  public  school 
authorities  and  the  recreation  commission.  He  is  gathering  data 
as  to  how  individual  factories  acquire  efficient  methods  of  handling 
the  details  of  the  Americanization  campaign  in  their  plants.  This 
information  is  distributed  in  the  form  of  bulletins  after  its  analysis 
and  consideration  by  the  committee.  We  are  making  a  definite  effort 
to  constantly  impress  upon  the  employers  of  foreign  labor  the  eco- 
nomic gain  and  increased  industrial  efficiency  secured  by  sending 


78  PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

workmen  to  the  public  evening  schools.  The  ultimate  object  in  viev* 
is  the  organization  of  an  agency  that  will  oversee  the  development 
of  the  foreigner  from  the  time  he  arrives  in  the  city  and  will  pro- 
vide for  his  proper  education,  civic  training,  his  naturalization,  and 
all  steps  necessary  to  make  him  a  desirable  and  competent  member 
of  the  community.  It  is  hoped  that  eventually  the  formation  of  a 
municipal  immigration  bureau  will  accomplish  this. 

I  should  like  to  give  you  a  brief  description  of  the  plan  adopted 
by  the  Americanization  committee  as  the  basis  for  factory  cooper- 
ation for  the  coming  season : 

PIAN  OF  FACTORY  COOPERATION. 

The  Americanization  committee  of  the  Detroit  Board  of  Commerce  offers  the 
following  plan  to  increase  the  attendance  of  non-English  speaking  laborers  in 
the  public  evening  schools  for  the  season  of  1916-17. 

An  educational  and  citizenship  census  shall  be  taken  in  the  plant.  This  will 
reveal  the  number  of  foreign-born  workmen — non-English  speaking  and  non- 
citizens — who  are  logical  night-school  students.  The  superintendent  shall  call 
them  together,  outline  in  person  or  through  an  interpreter  the  educational 
facilities  provided  by  the  city,  and  urge  them  to  attend  regularly.  A  record 
card  in  duplicate  will  then  be  prepared  for  each  person  so  selected,  one  of 
which  is  to  be  taken  by  him  to  the  nearest  evening  school  while  the  other  is 
retained  in  the  superintendent's  office. 

The  board  of  commerce  shall  distribute  to  employers  a  map  showing  the 
exact  location  of  each  night  school ;  the  employee  can  easily  be  advised  of  the 
location  of  the  school  nearest  his  home.  A  clerk  in  the  superintendent's  office 
shall  then  write  up  a  "  roll  book "  from  these  record  cards — the  ordinary 
ruled  time  book  having  been  arranged  for  this  purpose — and  notes  the  em- 
ployee's number,  full  name,  address,  and  nearest  school.  In  each  blank 
space,  usually  ruled  for  time  records,  will  be  noted  each  week's  record  of  at- 
tendance as  reported  by  the  night-school  teacher  on  an  attendance  record  card 
which  the  employee  shall  drop  into  a  box  near  the  time  clerk's  office  on  report- 
ing for  duty  the  following  morning.  The  office  boy  will  collect  these  cards  and 
enter  the  attendance  record  in  the  roll  book,  which  will  then  be  referred  to  the 
superintendent.  The  latter  will  examine  this  book  the  same  day  and  call 
before  him  any  employee  whose  previous  week's  attendance  was  irregular. 
The  superintendent's  personal  interest  is  of  course  required,  but  once  this  is 
secured,  very  little  time  need  be  spent  on  this  work  each  week.  This  personal 
contact  with  an  executive  officer  of  the  plant  is  expected  to  stimulate  regularity 
of  attendance  and  promote  a  better  understanding  between  employer  and 
employee. 

In  closing  this  paper  I  would  like  to  make  a  plea  for  the  exchange 
of  ideas.  The  Americanization  committee  of  the  Detroit  Board  of 
Commerce  would  like  very  much  to  see  in  operation  a  clearing  house 
for  ideas  for  this  great  movement.  We  believe  there  are  a  number 
of  problems  that  are  common  to  all  of  us.  It  would  be  splendid 
if  such  a  clearing  house  could  be  organized  to  gather  data  on  all  of 
these  common  problems,  analyze  the  same,  and  send  it  out  again 
in  the  form  of  bulletins. 

In  Detroit  we  are  anxious  to  know  what  has  been  done  in  other 
cities  in  connection  with  vocational  classes  for  foreigners.  We  are 
anxious  to  know  if  these  schools  have  attempted  to  give  any  voca- 
tional guidance  to  the  foreigners  attending  them,  and  especially 
whether  they  have  attempted  to  teach  the  men  without  any  specific 
trade  just  how  to  secure  a  trade. 

We  would  like  to  know  something  of  the  operation  of  legal-aid 
bureaus  in  schools  for  teaching  English  to  foreigners. 

We  are  much  interested  in  finding  out  whether  or  not  any  of  the 
cities  have  tried  out  the  plan  of  having  the  schools  open  one  even- 


PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST   CITIZENSHIP   CONVENTION.  79 

ing  a  week  in  addition  to  the  regular  schedule,  this  night  to  be  de- 
voted to  community-center  work. 

We  are  anxious  to  know  what  progress  has  been  made  in  other 
cities  in  the  effort  to  enlist  the  interest  and  cooperation  of  the  neigh- 
borhood in  the  work  of  the  evening  school.  I  should  much  appre- 
ciate hearing  from  any  of  you  who  can  give  us  aid  in  this  con- 
nection. 

I  wish  to  thank  you  for  your  courtesy  in  bearing  with  me  through 
this  paper. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  We  have  known  for  quite  a  while  what  Detroit 
has  been  doing,  but  we  are  glad  to  hear  at  first  hand  the  details  of 
this  great  work.  The  next  speaker  on  the  program  is  Mr.  Andrew 
H.  Melville,  member  State  conference  board  on  industrial  education 
and  chief  of  the  bureau  of  civic,  commercial,  and  community  devel- 
opment, University  of  Wisconsin  Extension  Division.  Mr.  Melville 
is  here  and  I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  a  slight  talk  with  him  and 
find  that  he  has  a  great  message  in  telling  us  of  the  industrial  plan 
of  education  in  Wisconsin. 

ADDRESS  OF  ANDREW  H.  MELVILLE,  CHIEF  BUREAU  OF  CIVIC, 
COMMERCIAL,  AND  COMMUNITY  DEVELOPMENT,  UNIVERSITY 
OF  WISCONSIN  EXTENSION  DIVISION. 

Industrial  education  in  America  is  new,  very  new,  so  new  indeed 
that  we  need  not  expect  for  some  time  to  come  definite,  well-defined 
principles  of  standardization  meeting  even  the  general  approval  of 
leading  educators  engaged  in  the  work.  As  a  matter  of  fact  we  must 
expect  differences  of  opinion  and  conflicting  ideas  calling  for  a  more 
thorough  investigation  and  analysis  of  the  industries  affording  em- 
ployment to  the  boy  and  girl  on  the  one  hand  and  the  best  methods 
of  tying  together  the  schools  and  these  industries  on  the  other  hand. 
We  hear  much  of  the  German  plan  of  industrial  education,  the  Fitch- 
burg  plan,  the  Cincinnati  plan,  and  the  Wisconsin  plan.  It  is  40 
years  since  the  German  Government,  under  the  direction  and  guid- 
ance of  that  astute  statesman,  Bismarck,  outlined  a  plan  of  vocational 
guidance  and  continuation  schools  now  famous  the  world  over. 
There  is  much  in  the  German  system  which  commends  itself  to  our 
favorable  attention,  and  just  to  the  extent  that  German  ideals  may 
function  as  ideals  in  an  American  democracy  must  we  be  governed 
in  adapting  whatever  there  is  of  vision  and  of  practical  value  in 
their  system. 

Our  public-school  curriculum  has  been  in  a  ferment,  lo  these 
many  years,  with  reformers,  progressives,  and  reactionaries  in  turn  in 
the  saddle,  with  the  result  that  to-day,  after  decades  of  experimen- 
tation, delving  into  educational  values,  methods,  etc.,  there  is  still 
much  debatable  ground. 

In  America  local  conditions  have  determined  to  a  large  extent, 
and  must  continue  to  determine,  the  needs  and  kind  of  industrial 
education  offered  in  any  community.  What  we  have  thus  far  has 
come  about  without  very  much  vocational  guidance.  When  scientific 
investigation  of  the  problems  of  commercial  education,  of  the  prob- 


80  PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIRST  CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

lems  of  industrial  educationj  of  facilities  for  the  training  of  teachers 
is  provided;  when  labor  unions  on  the  one  hand  and  capital  on  the 
other  hand  are  directly  concerned  with  every  movement  in  this  new 
field,  are  thoroughly  alive  to  the  possibilities  for  developing  men 
and  women  who  are,  first,  intelligent,  self-respecting  citizens  with 
a  sense  of  their  social  obligations  to  their  fellows  and  to  the  com- 
munities in  which  they  live,  and,  second,  skilled  workingmen  and 
working  women,  we  shall  be  in  a  fair  way  to  estimate  the  correct- 
ness of  the  training  which*  we  are  providing  for.  our  boys  and  girls. 
My  opinion  is  that  we  have  only  begun  to  scrape  the  surface  of  this 
tremendously  significant  problem  and  that  jtist  to  the  extent  that  we 
give  this  new  field  the  same  careful,  impartial,  unbiased  analysis 
that  the  successful  business  man  accords  his  business,  just  to  the 
extent  that  we  make  this  study  of  industrial  education  so  far  as 
possible  a  private  business,  conducted  on  a  community  basis,  gov- 
erned by  the  same  principles  of  efficiency  that  govern  business,  shall 
we  get  results  at  all  adequate  with  the  expenditure  of  time,  money, 
and  energy  involved. 

The  present  system  of  industrial  education  in  Wisconsin  was 
established  by  the  legislature  in  1911.  The  work  began  in  the  fall  of 
1912 — four  years  ago.  The  plan  grew  out  of  the  work  of  the  Exten- 
sion Division  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  which  had  been  in  the 
field  for  six  years  prior  to  the  passage  of  the  industrial-education 
law.  Just  10  years  ago  the  University  of  Wisconsin  established  its 
extension  division,  the  idea  being  to  provide  instruction  of  two  types. 
Certain  courses  were  accordingly  prepared  for  students  who  had  in 
mind  a  college  career  at  some  future  time.  These  studies  corre- 
sponded to  courses  offered  in  residence  for  a  university  degree.  They 
were  later  supplemented  by  courses  of  a  high-school  grade  and  then 
a  few  others  adapted  to  the  needs  of  sixth  to  eighth  grade  grammar- 
school  pupils.  The  group  just  cited  may  be  termed,  the  purely  cul- 
tural group  of  studies.  Another  significant  group  of  courses  of  a 
vocational  nature  was  written  by  men  of  wide  experience  in  their 
respective  fields  and  of  sound  academic  training.  These  courses  were 
designed  to  furnish  practical  instruction  in  business  and  in  engineer- 
ing subjects  to  the  great  rank  and  file  of  men  and  women  over  the 
State  of  Wisconsin  who,  because  of  financial  inability  to  attend 
school  or  for  other  reasons,  were  unable  to  go  on  with  their  educa- 
tion. All  these  courses  were  offered  by  correspondence  to  students, 
and  some  of  them  in  the  more  populous  centers  of  the  State  were 
given  as  a  class  proposition  by  local  instructors  wherever  interest 
and  attendance  warranted  the  instructor  going.  The  extension  divi- 
sion prepared  a  large  number  of  texts  on  shop  mathematics,  draw- 
ing, fuels,  steam  engineering,  gas  engineering,  electric  wiring,  plumb- 
ing, bookkeeping,  accounting,  salesmanship,  commercial  correspond- 
ence, advertising,  etc.,  for  the  use  of  its  students  and  classes.  During 
the  past  10  years,  under  the  efficient  direction  of  Dean  Louis  E. 
Reber,  who  has  made  a  study  of  both  foreign  and  American  systems, 
this  extension  work  developed  by  leaps  and  bounds. 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  courses  offered  and  the  texts  prepared 
in  many  instances  provided  for  the  training  of  students  all  the  way 
from  the  sixth  grade  on  up.  The  idea  was  not  primarily  to  make 
a  civil  engineer  or  a  mechanical  engineer  or  an  expert  bookkeeper 
or  an  expert  accountant  of  the  student  enrolled,  but  essentially  to 


PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST   CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION.  81 

make  a  more  efficient  workman  of  him  and  to  give  him  a  chance  to 
find  himself,  anfl  if  in  doing  so  he  discovered  a  field  before  him 
which  appealed  to  him  and  for  which  he  was  especially  adapted  he 
might  go  as  far  as  he  wished.  The  records  of  the  extension  division 
show  24,580  registrations  during  the  10-year  period  just  closed  and 
contain  hundreds  of  interesting  cases  of  young  men  and  young 
women  who  have  pursued  these  vocational  courses,  a  few,  perhaps, 
out  of  curiosity  but  the  great  majority  seriously,  with  the  result  that 
they  have  become  exceedingly  proficient  in  their  vocations  and  risen 
to  positions  of  great  responsibility. 

The  point  I  wish  to  make,  therefore,  is  that  the  Extension  Divi- 
sion or  the  University  of  Wisconsin  has  been  the  pioneer  in  the 
present  industrial  plan,  blazing  the  trail  for  the  rapid  growth  which 
our  industrial  schools  have  made  during  the  past  four  years.  It 
has  demonstrated  that  both  correspondence  study  and  class  work, 
when  carried  on  in  cooperation  with  employers  and  school  authori- 
ties, have  possibilities  beyond  which  we  have  not  yet  even  dreamed. 
When  the  vocational  schools  were  opened  in  1912  the  extension  divi- 
sion was  glad  to  have  the  industrial  schools  immediately  take  over 
all  the  elementary  courses  which  it  had  previously  been  offering.  The 
extension  division  then  proceeded  to  emphasize  more  advanced 
courses,  and  is  at  the  present  time  to  the  vocational  schools  of  Wis- 
consin what  the  university  and  high  schools  are  to  the  grammar 
schools  of  the  State. 

But  before  Wisconsin  could  have  an  adequate  system  of  industrial 
education  she  must  have  child-labor  and  truancy  laws.  So  she  be- 
gan her  industrial  system  of  education  by  rewriting  her  child-labor 
and  truancy  laws.  The  law  provides  that  no  child  under  16  shall 
work  in  any  occupation  hazardous  to  health,  body,  or  character,  and 
that  every  child  until  it  reaches  14  years  of  age  shall  attend  some 
private,  parochial,  or  public  school,  and  that  after  14  years  of  age,  or 
between  14  and  16,  the  child  must  attend  school,  providing  it  has  not 
completed  the  eighth  grade  of  the  grammar  school,  unless  its  parents 
or  those  responsible  for  its  education  obtain  a  permit  to  the  contrary 
from  the  commissioner  of  labor,  truancy  officer,  or  a  judge  of  the  State, 
county,  or  municipal  court.  Furthermore,  all  children  between  the 
ages  of  14  and  18  desirous  of  becoming  apprentices  in  some  useful 
employment  must  attend  an  industrial,  commercial,  continuation,  or 
evening  school  five  hours  each  week,  the  employer  continuing  the 
wages  during  these  hours  of  school.  The  attendance  upon  such  school 
is  for  such  hours  and  at  such  places  as  the  local  board  of  industrial 
education  prescribes,  and  these  children,  indentured,  are  under  the 
Constant  supervision  of  the  State  industrial  commission  during  their 
working  hours  and  under  the  direction  of  the  local  board  of  indus- 
trial education  during  the  period  of  school  attendance. 

With  the  matter  of  child  labor  and  truancy  cared  for.  Wisconsin 
then  proceeded  to  pass  her  laws  on  industrial  education.  The  legis- 
lature established  a  State  board  of  industrial  education,  consisting  of 
three  employers  of  labor,  three  employees,  and  three  practical,  noted 
educators.  The  last  three  are  ex  officio  members  of  the  State  board 
of  education  and  consist  of  the  State  superintendent  of  public  in- 
struction, the  dean  of  the  university  extension  division,  and  the  dean 

70552°— 17 6 


82  PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST   CITIZENSHIP   CONVENTION. 

of  the  College  of  Engineering  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin.  It 
should  be  understood  that  the  Wisconsin  industrial  education  law 
was  based  upon  the  findings  of  a  commission  of  eminent  men,  some 
of  whom  were  sent  to  Europe  and  others  to  parts  of  the  United  States 
to  study  the  best  and  most  approved  systems  with  the  idea  of  analyz- 
ing and  adapting  whatever  might  be  found  of  value  and  not  bor- 
rowing it.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  Wisconsin  threw  into  the  melt- 
ing pot  for  fusion  all  interests  concerned  in  order  that  she  might  ob- 
tain a  product  which  would  stand  the  test  of  the  needs  of  the  em- 
ployer of  labor  on  the  one  hand,  the  workingman  who  earns  his 
bread  in  the  sweat  of  his  brow  on  the  other  hand,  and  finally  the 
educator  governed  by  high  ideals  of  educational  procedure. 

Wisconsin  has  been  cited  as  an  instance  of  a  double-headed  educa- 
tional system,  thereby  inviting  overlapping,  duplication,  and  waste. 
In  reply  I  quote  Dean  Reber,  of  the  State  industrial  board: 

Examples  might  be  multiplied  *  *  *  to  show  that  past  experience  sup- 
plies evidence  that  a  system  of  industrial  education  will  probably  be  developed 
more  rapidly  and  more  effectively  if,  though  made  a  part  of  the.  public-school 
system,  it  is  managed  by  separate  boards  under  conditions  that  will  bring  into 
recognition  the  experience  and  knowledge  of  those  most  directly  and  personally 
interested — employer  and  employee — in  the  results  of  vocational  training. 
*  *  *  This  new  board,  free  from  tradition,  will  not  be  tempted  to  organize 
compromise  classes  in  industrial  subjects  with  teachers  at  hand  who  are  not  well 
prepared  to  teach  effectively  from  the  point  of  \iew  of  the  vocational  require- 
ments. The  curriculum  will  not  be  passed  upon  by  a  large  corps  of  teachers  who 
have  not  made  a  study  of  industrial  conditions  and  industrial  teaching,  but 
will  receive  the  earnest  attention  of  men  who  have  been  in  a  position  to  feel 
the  failures  of  the  established  educational  systems'  and  to  study  the  reasons  that 
contribute  to  these  failures. 

With  regard  to  the  standardization  of  the  school  work,  a  safe- 
guard has  been  thrown  around  the  industrial-education  plan  by  the 
clause  which  provides  that  courses  of  study  must  be  approved  by  the 
State  superintendent  of  public  instruction  as  well  as  by  the  State 
board  of  industrial  education,  thus  linking  the  industrial-education 
system  up  closely  with  that  of  the  public-school  system.  The  law 
provides  that : 

In  every  town  or  village  or  city  of  over  5,000  inhabitants  there  shall  be, 
and  in  towns,  cities,  and  villages  of  less  than  5,000  inhabitants  there  may  be, 
a  local  board  of  industrial  education  whose  duties  it  shall  be  to  establish, 
foster,  and  maintain  schools  for  instruction  in  trades  and  industries,  commerce, 
and  household  arts,  in  part  time,  day,  all  day,  and  evening  classes,  and  in 
other  branches,  which  shall  include  English,  citizenship,  sanitation,  hygiene, 
the  uses  of  safety  devices,  and  such  other  studies  as  the  State  superintendent 
and  the  State  board  of  industrial  education  shall  approve. 

The  law  further  provides: 

Whenever  25  persons  qualified  to  attend  an  industrial,  commercial,  continu- 
ation, or  evening  school  file  a  petition  before  the  local  board  of  industrial 
education  the  board  shall  establish  such  school  or  schools  or  provide  other 
facilities  authorized  by  the  law. 

The  local  board  of  industrial  education  consists  of  the  city  super- 
intendent or  principal  of  the  high  school,  two  employers  of  labor, 
and  two  employees,  hence  we  again  have  a  triple  combination  repre- 
senting labor,  capital,  and  the  public-school  interest  on  one  board. 
The  local  boards  of  industrial  education  are  empowered  to  make 
contracts  with  the  extension  division  of  the  university  to  give  in- 
struction in  such  branches  as  the  division  offers  when,  in  the  judg- 
ment of  the  local  board,  such  instruction  can  be  secured  to  better 


PROCEEDINGS   OF    FIRST   CITIZENSHIP   CONVENTION.  83 

advantage  than  through  local  teachers.  During  the  last  four  years 
cooperative  relations  have  been  maintained  between  the  boards  of 
education  and  the  extension  division,  wherein  the  latter  has  pro- 
vided expert  instructors  for  classes  that  the  former  would  have 
been  compelled  to  disband  without  provision  having  beeen  made 
for  cooperation  through  the  extension  division  of  the  university. 
A  State  appropriation,  amounting  to  $150,000  during  the  present 
year,  was  made  by  the  last  legislature  and  placed  at  the  disposal  of 
the  State  board  of  industrial  education  for  the  purpose  of  carrying 
on  its  work.  Ordinarily  the  State  expects  to  contribute  one-half 
of  the  expense  of  maintaining  the  industrial  schools  in  the  various 
centers.  However,  at  the  present  time  the  State  appropriation  has 
fallen  about  15  per  cent  short  of  providing  its  share  of  funds. 
The  law  states  that  not  more  than  $20,000  may  be  given  to  cities 
of  the  first  class  nor  more  than  $10,000  to  any  other  one  town,  city, 
or  village  of  the  second,  third,  or  fourth  class.  The  funds  supplied 
by  the  local  school  boards  for  the  maintenance  of  their  schools  are 
derived  from  a  one-half  mill  tax  upon  all  taxable  property  in  said 
village  and  town,  levied  in  the  same  manner  as  other  taxes  are  levied 
and  collected  by  law.  In  order  for  the  local  school  boards  to  take 
advantage  of  State  aid  the  schools  must  be  approved  by  the  State 
superintendent  of  public  instruction  and  by  the  State  board  of 
industrial  education  and  must  be  in  session  for  not  less  than  eight 
months  during  the  year. 

THE    APPRENTICE    LAW. 

The  Wisconsin  apprentice  law,  under  the  direction  of  the  Wiscon- 
sin industrial  commission,  provides  that  every  indenture  shall  con- 
tain an  agreement  stating  the  number  of  hours  to  be  spent  in  work, 
the  number  of  hours  to  be  allowed  for  instruction,  the  total  number 
of  hours  not  to  exceed  55  in  one  week,  5  hours  of  which  shall  be 
devoted  to  instruction  in  the  continuation  schools  of  the  city  in 
subjects  already  mentioned.  It  should  be  further  noted  that  the 
indenture  of  the  apprentice  provides  that  the  whole  trade  shall  be 
taught  him,  not  a  part  of  it,  and  it  states  the  amount  of  time  to  be 
spent  at  each  machine,  thus  eliminating  the  possibility  of  the  em- 
ployer exploiting  the  services  of  any  boy  or  girl  who  proves  es- 
pecially skillful  in  any  particular  kind  of  work  in  the  factory.  It 
should  be  further  noted  that  the  State  industrial  commission  em- 
ploys a  supervisor  of  apprentices,  whose  business  it  is  to  visit  the 
factories,  consult  the  employers,  follow  the  boy  and  girl  in  their 
work  through  the  various  processes  of  learning  the  trade,  so  that 
nothing  may  be  overlooked  in  their  education. 

Now,  with  the  State  board  of  industrial  education  in  the  field 
and  its  representative  inspecting  the  schools ;  with  the  State  superin- 
tendent in  direct  charge  of  all  education  in  the  State,  and  his  assist- 
ant in  direct  charge  of  the  supervision  of  the  activities  of  these 
industrial  schools;  with  the  industrial  commission  and  its  repre- 
sentative visiting  the  factories  and  employers;  and  with  the  ex- 
tension division  of  the  university  carrying  on  courses  in  the  State, 
it  might  seem  on  first  thought  that  much  duplication,  overlapping, 
and  waste  of  time  and  money  are  the  result.  However,  just  the  op- 
posite is  true.  May  I  enumerate  the  function  of  each  one  of  these 


84  PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST   CITIZENSHIP  CONVENTION. 

agencies?  The  State  board  of  industrial  education  is  charged  with 
the  control  of  all  State  aid  apportioned  to  the  various  cities.  With 
the  State  superintendent  of  public  instruction  it  approves  or  dis- 
approves of  the  courses  of  study  provided  by  the  local  schools.  The 
State  board  of  industrial  education  is  largely  representative  and 
cooperative,  consisting  of  three  educators,  three  employers,  three 
skilled  employees,  having  35,000  students,  12.000  of  whom  are  be- 
tween the  ages  of  14  and  17  and  on  a  compulsory  part-time  attend- 
ance plan.  The  State  board  addresses  itself  primarily  to  the  de- 
velopment of  industrial  education,  to  research,  to  analysis,  to  study, 
and  to  surveys.  The  department  of  public  instruction,  while  jointly 
responsible  with  the  State  board  for  courses  of  study,  qualifications 
of  teachers,  costs,  and  general  character  of  the  work,  has  to  do  par- 
ticularly with  supervision  of  instruction,  classes,  and  teachers ;  while 
the  industrial  commission  works  entirely  with  the  employer  of  labor, 
secures  indentures  covering  all  minors  who  for  a  part  of  their  com- 
pensation are  promised  to  be  taught  a  trade,  the  indentures  being 
made  in  writing  and  specifying  the  major  and  minor  processes  of 
each  trade.  It  is  also  charged  with  the  inspection  of  all  places  where 
apprentices  are  employed  to  see  that  the  indentures  are  carried  out. 

The  function  of  the  industrial  commission,  therefore,  is  one  of  po- 
lice power,  so  to  speak— of  policing,  as  it  were,  the  apprenticeship 
pupils  and  their  places  of  employment.  It  determines  the  training 
of  the  boy  inside  the  shop ;  it  does  not  follow  the  boy  into  the  school, 
where  the  State  board  of  industrial  education  and  the  State  superin- 
tendent of  public  instruction  and  their  assistants  have  full  power.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  State  board  of  industrial  education  and  the  State 
superintendent  do  not  follow  the  boy  from  the  school  to  the  shop.  In 
order  to  have  all  of  these  various  educational  agencies  charged  with 
responsibilities  and  duties  in  behalf  of  the  industrial  schools  of  the 
State  duly  correlated  and  coordinated,  a  conference  board  on  indus- 
trial education  has  been  organized,  whose  membership  is  made  up  of 
representatives  from  the  office  of  the  State  superintendent  of  public 
instruction,  from  the  State  board  of  industrial  education,  from  the 
Extension  Division  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  from  the  indus- 
trial commission  of  the  State  of  Wisconsin,  and  from  Stout  Institute. 
The  latter  institution  is  charged  with  the  training  of  teachers  of  in- 
dustrial and  home  economics  subjects.  Before  matters  of  importance 
are  passed  upon  by  the  State  board  of  industrial  education,  the  con- 
ference board  has  already  considered  their  significance  and  worth 
and  has  made  recommendations  which  may  or  may  not  be  indorsed  by 
the  State  board  of  industrial  education  as  it  deems  best. 

It  will  therefore  be  seen  that  the  Wisconsin  plan  of  industrial  ed- 
ucation has  adequately  provided  for  scientific  research  and  investi- 
gation, has  safeguarded  the  boys  and  girls  in  their  employment  in 
factories,  and  is  adequately  supervising  their  instruction  in  the 
schools. 

THE  OUTLOOK  FOR  THE  FUTURE. 

This  in  the  rough  is  a  brief  statement  of  Wisconsin's  attempt  thus 
far  to  provide  a  system  of  industrial  education.  Her  efforts  are  now 
being  focused  on  greater  cooperation  and  coordination  of  all  the  agen- 
cies engaged  in  carrying  on  this  work ;  second,  in  the  elimination  of 


PROCEEDINGS   OF   FIRST   CITIZENSHIP   '  ')X^.y Tioy  85 

non functioning  courses  of  study  with  the  idea  of  bringing  about  a 
closer  contact  with  industry  and  the  development  of  interest  on  the 
part  of  those  who  receive  instruction.  We  need  better  qualified 
teachers.  We  are  only  beginning  to  get  the  kind  of  teachers  which 
we  want.  This  means  that  in  the  near  future  the  job  of  selecting 
teachers  for  our  local  industrial  schools  may  be  taken  out  of  the 
hands  of  local  boards  now  prescribing  qualifications,  and  to  some 
central  board  will  be  delegated  the  task  of  determining  the  fitness  of 
teachers  instructing  in  vocational  subjects.  We  need  more  vocational 
guidance;  we  need  a  more  careful  analysis  of  local  conditions  to  de- 
termine the  character  of  the  instruction  offered  in  our  schools.  We 
have  talked  a  great  deal  about  these  things,  but  from  now  on  talk, 
promises,  and  resolutions  must  give  way  to  action  and  deeds.  We 
have  got  by  the  propaganda  state,  and  in  the  language  of  the  street 
we  must  now  "  deliver  the  goods." 

The  CHAIRMAN.  The  program  says  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
chairman  to  place  before  you  a  resume  of  the  cooperative  activities 
between  the  public  schools  of  the  entire  country  and  the  Bureau  of 
Naturalization  during  the  scholastic  year  just  closed,  but  as  it  is  now 
getting  rather  late,  I  believe  that  this  would  require  more  time  than 
we  should  take.  Everything  that  has  been  said  in  the  addresses  has 
been  in  effect  to  relieve  the  chairman  of  this  task.  You  have  given 
collectively  a  resume  in  the  reviews  of  this  loyal,  patriotic,  and  highly 
successful  work  among  the  foreigners  in  your  cities,  in  training  them 
in  the  great  profession  of  sovereign  government.  You  have  shown 
them  much  of  what  is  meant  to  turn  from  the  estate  of  subject  under 
subjugation  to  that  of  sovereign  with  complete  sovereignty.  For 
your  chairman  to  attempt  now  a  review  of  what  has  already  gone  be- 
fore would  be  a  repetition  entirely  unjustified. 

I  know  I  express  the  feeling  of  all  who  are  here  when  I  say  that 
it  is  with  exceedingly  great  regret  your  chairman  is  unable  to  an- 
nounce the  Secretary  of  Labor,  who  is  absent  from  the  city  and  un- 
avoidably detained.  It  should  be  made  known  to  you,  however,  that 
he  is  in  hearty  accord  with  this  work  of  the  Bureau  of  Naturalization 
among  the  candidates  for  citizenship  with  the  public  schools.  He 
has  stated  to  me  that  it  represents  the  fulfillment  of  some  of  the  hopes, 
aims,  and  ideals  which  he  entertained  when  he  became  Secretary  of 
Labor.  That  is  the  indorsement  which  we  have  received  from  our 
'chief,  and  having  received  the  indorsement  of  all  who  are  here,  we 
may  feel  that  we  can  go  ahead  with  the  assurance  that  success  in  its 
highest  form  will  be  ours. 

The  Bureau  of  Naturalization  wants  to  have  the  public  schools 
made  use  of  in  the  same  way  that  any  other  important  enterprise 
makes  use  of  its  equipment.  We  do  not  think  they  are  properly  used 
if  they  are  occupied  but  4  or  5  or  6  or  10  months  in  the  year.  We 
believe  that  so  long  as  the  naturalization  courts  operate  all  the  months 


86  PROCEEDINGS   OF    FIRS1    CITIZENSHIP   CONVENTION. 

in  the  year  there  are  12  months  when  the  foreigner  needs  the  aid  of 
the  public  schools.  In  many  cities,  as  the  result  of  the  work  of  the 
bureau  upon  this  point,  public  schools  are  maintaining  citizenship 
classes  three,  four,  five,  and  even  six  months  longer  than  ever  be- 
fore, and  in  some  of  them  the  citizenship  classes  are  being  maintained 
throughout  the  calendar  year.  We  hope  to  have  this  great  work  ex- 
tended until  the  plan  is  adopted  by  the  public  schools  all  over  the 
country. 

As  chairman,  permit  me  to  thank  you  for  your  cordial  support,  at- 
tention, and  attendance  upon  all  these  sessions  of  this  the  First 
Citizenship  Convention,  which  is  now  declared  adjourned. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROW! 

LOAN  DEPT 

sAisas 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate 


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